This is the moment a woman confronted a deadly crocodile – with a flip-flop.

A local crocodile enthusiast captured the "shocking" confrontation between the mystery woman, her dog and a saltwater crocodile in northern Australia's Kakadu National Park.

The woman, unflinching at the sight of the deadly reptile lurking in the water, can be seen clapping her flip-flops against her hand to scare the crocodile away.

Her actions of "indignant swatting" were described as more "appropriately directed at a mosquito" than an "apex predator" a local news report said.

Lyndon Anlezark captured the footage and described the danger the woman faced.

"A lady turns up with a small dog, it sets the instinct off immediately in the crocodile ... one crocodile went straight over another crocodile and straight towards her," he told ABC News.

"We could have had a death there that day.

"You don't go near the crossing with small children especially, and definitely not with animals at all."

A recent survey recorded more than 120 crocodiles in the six-mile stretch of East Alligator River where the stand-off took place.

But the woman was undeterred by the prospect of being dragged into the river as she could be heard laughing after she came out on top after the tense stand-off.

The confrontation has left numerous park rangers bemused by the incident.

"Thank god they eat a lot of fish," Northern Territory ranger Gary Lindner told ABC News.

"Because they could grab a person here every day of the week if they wanted to.

"There's a minority of people, who will ignore the rangers and will place themselves in a situation where a serious, big, dangerous predator will grab you and eat you."

Lindner has worked as a park ranger in Kakadu for over 30 years and said estimated there were between 80,000 and 100,000 crocodiles in northern Australia.