Tanya Day arrived at Castlemaine police station smelling of alcohol, slurring her words and was unsteady on her feet, a Melbourne inquest into her death has been told.

Officers assigned to check on the 55-year-old did not go inside her cell but looked through the window for five or six seconds before leaving, CCTV footage played to the coroners court on Monday showed.

The Yorta Yorta grandmother was arrested on a Melbourne-bound train on December 5, 2017.

She died in hospital 17 days later from a brain haemorrhage, after falling and hitting her head inside the police cell.

Leading Senior Constable Wayne Cairnes told the inquest he and his colleague did not go into the cell when conducting a "physical" check on Ms Day because she was a woman and he would have to had to remove his weapons first.

"To me it would be a very personal thing for a female to be in custody and have two men enter her cell," Const Cairnes said.

"People deserve their privacy and dignity in the cell."

Read more:

He told the inquest he had seen Ms Day standing in the cell but conceded this was wrong after being played footage showing her covered in a blanket on the bed.

Const Cairnes also said his colleague asked "Tanya, are you okay?" before later conceding he couldn't recall exactly what was said.

She fell and hit her head five times before she was due to be released at 8pm.

After arriving at the Castlemaine police station, she bargained with police to let her go.

Another officer at the station, Leading Senior Constable Wayne Rowe, said she would have been "about a seven (out of 10)" in terms of drunkenness when he arrived.

He had to hold Ms Day to keep her still while her custody shot was taken, and she knocked his hand away as he held her jacket, indicating it would have to come off.

"I spent about the next 10 minutes explaining to (Ms) Day that because she was going into the cell, she needed to remove her jacket (which contained a drawstring), shoes and jewellery," he said.

"At first, she didn't want to comply but she wasn't being resistant. She just wasn't listening to what we were saying and kept asking us 'why' and trying to bargain with us to release her."

Police told the woman to sleep it off in the cell while they tried to organise someone to come and collect her.

Australian Associated Press

Have you signed up to the Bendigo Advertiser's daily newsletter and breaking news emails? You can register below and make sure you are up to date with everything that's happening in central Victoria.