Australian father and daughter David and Peta Black escaped the Manchester Ariana Grande blast

AN Australian father and his daughter were caught up in the Manchester terror attack at Ariana Grande’s concert — his quick thinking saved their lives.

Manchester Terror Attack. David and Peta Black instagram post before Aria Grande concert.

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AN Australian father and daughter caught up in the Manchester bombing at the end of an Ariana Grande concert say their hopes of catching the pop star may have saved their lives.

David Black and his 12-year-old daughter Peta from Palmerston in the Northern Territory were at the concert when he suggested they “hang on” after the concert ended.

He told Mix104.9 he and his daughter were meant to be headed for the exit targeted by the bomber.

But they decided to wait in case the singer would return for another song.

David and Peta Black in an Instagram post before the Aria Grande concert. Picture: Supplied

“We were very lucky. It’s the old Darwin way when we weren’t really in a rush to leave,” Mr Black has told MIX 104.9.

“If we had’ve left 10 minutes earlier, we would have been right where it was.”

“When the concert ended, I said to Peta, ‘let’s hang on, because sometimes they come and do a few more songs’.”

Ariana Grande in concert at Manchester Arena. Picture: @alanandrews_1/Instagram

The Blacks are in the UK visiting family, and David said he and his daughter were sitting at the very back of the Manchester Arena.

A suicide bomber killed 22 people when he detonated his home made explosive device, sending nuts and bolts tearing through the crowd of mostly young girls and teenagers.

Mr Black says they initially thought it was a balloon exploding.

“We heard a bit of a bang go off and because we were ... at the top of the stadium, we saw everybody running in different directions,” he said.

“I thought it was a crushing situation so I got Peta to walk over to empty seats and sit down. I told her we should sit down for a minute and actually see what was going on,” Mr Black also aid.

“As we got halfway down, we were heading towards the Victoria Station exit, which is where it went off, so that’s when I could smell smoke and stuff like that and realised that something happened.”