In a sex fantasy gone wrong, two men with machetes entered the wrong house in New South Wales, Australia, before quickly realising their error.

One of them has now been acquitted of entering a home armed with a weapon in July 2019, Australian media report.

They had been hired to carry out a client's fantasy of being tied up in his underwear and stroked with a broom.

The judge concluded that "the facts of the case are unusual".

The role play was arranged over Facebook by a man near Griffith, New South Wales, who provided his address to the hired pair.

"He was willing to pay A$5,000 if it was 'really good'," the judge said.

However, the client moved to another address 50km (30 miles) away without updating the two men. They then entered a home on the street of the original address.

When the resident noticed a light on in his kitchen at 06:15, he assumed it was a friend who came by daily to make morning coffee.

When the men called out the name of their client, the resident turned on the light and removed a sleep apnoea mask he was wearing.

It was then that he saw them standing above his bed with the machetes, which they appeared to have brought as props for the role play.

When they realised their error, one of the pair said, "Sorry, mate", and shook the resident's hand, according to local reports.

The two men then drove to the correct address, where the client noticed one man had a "great big knife" in his trousers and asked them to leave the weapons in their car.

The client then cooked bacon, eggs and noodles, and a short time later, the police arrived at the property, found the machetes in the car and arrested the hired pair.

The judge ruled that evidence did not suggest the men's actions were intentional.

"They carried the machetes either as a prop or something to use in that fantasy," he said. "The fantasy was unscripted and there was discretion as to how it would be carried out."

A lawyer for Terrence Leroy, one of the accused, said: "It was a commercial agreement to tie up and stroke a semi-naked man in his underpants with a broom. Entry was not with intent to intimidate."