A woman who witnessed a 24-year-old man climbing up the old South Fremantle power station on Saturday shortly before he fell to his death said she warned him what he was doing was dangerous.
The witness, who does not want to be named, said the Byford man and a woman were climbing up the side of the building using smashed window ledges as footings.
"We shouted, 'please get down, it's very dangerous," she said.
"He was really hesitant...I was amazed the window was even holding them up."
The witness said the pair had climbed about 30 metres and were likely trying to get to an upper level inaccessible from the inside, as internal staircases had been removed.
"There's no bridge and no stairs going to it because it's dangerous so they scaled the windows to move against the wall and jumped in that way," she said.
"We were begging them to come down.
"There was one part where they were just standing on some really thin scaffolding."
The man fell 15 metres through a hole in the floor just before 6pm on Saturday night.
Emergency Services workers provided the man with medical assistance, but he died a short time later at the scene.
Police will prepare a report for the coroner.
The heritage-listed old power station in North Coogee, which has been closed since 1985, is set to be part of a massive commercial and residential development on the Cockburn coast.
On Monday, City of Cockburn Mayor Logan Howlett told Radio 6PR the derelict site would not be redeveloped for at least another 10 years and that he hoped safety at the site would be improved in the meantime.
