SYDNEY (AFP) - An Australian man who made global headlines after becoming wedged naked in his washing machine during a prank said on Tuesday his freeing by police using olive oil was "like a birthing".

The man, who has identified himself only as "Laurence", opened up about the mortifying incident in which a large group of rescue workers had to grease up his 175cm, 68kg frame to pull him from his top-loader machine.

He told commercial radio he had "decided to have a bit of sneaky fun while in the nude" but found shortly after clambering into the washing machine that "I couldn't get actually fully in or fully out and had to call for assistance." "I really just wanted another beer," he said when asked what went through his mind when he realised he was stuck.

"I thought 'oh I can easily fit in there because it's quite a large washing machine' but yeah, the way that I sat in with the legs crossed I just couldn't move them to get back out."

The self-proclaimed "practical joker" said he was known among his friends as "Laurence, he's always nude" and claimed he had "been in stranger places if that's possible."

He admitted to panicking "a little bit" at first and said he called a friend to explain his predicament and ask that she bring him a cigarette to smoke.

"She said 'are you serious?'. And I said 'yeah you're going to need to call the fire guys or something'. I said 'just call Mum or Dad, get an angle grinder and just cut (the machine) down the middle," he said.

When the rescue workers arrived he said most of them were shocked and "a lot of them just stood around in awe and they just wanted to see it for themselves." After working their way through the bathroom cabinet of soaps and lotions trying to work him free Laurence said they turned to his olive oil.

"I said just drag the washing machine out and put it on its side, maybe that will help, so as soon as we did that I just sort of fell out onto the floor," he said.

"It was a bit like a birthing." He added: "I was quite disappointed they used my good olive oil." He thanked the emergency workers for keeping their composure and not asking "too many questions", though he confessed worrying that it might be awkward down at the local pub in future.