That final conversation proved painfully prophetic.
Soon after, the 47-year-old spent the day with her on-again-off-again boyfriend and the pair set out on a moonlit bush walk.
The couple traversed the steep Federal Falls bush track in the early hours of November 30, 2022, to look at the lights of the nearby city of Orange, in central-western NSW.
After about an hour, they took a wrong turn and became lost and disoriented in dense scrub.
Panicked and wearing only a blouse, tights and sandals in below-zero temperatures, Ms Wallace refused to move and the couple argued about the best way out.
Her boyfriend left her sitting on his high-vis jacket while he walked to safety at sunrise to call for help.
That was the last time she was seen alive.
A two-day inquest has examined the efficacy of the 12-day search for Ms Wallace and the circumstances of her death, which is not considered suspicious.
Ms Wallace's body was found on the afternoon of December 11, with hypothermia and dehydration the likely causes of death.
During the search, Ms Wallace's white blouse, her black headband, a torch and the high-vis jacket were found discarded.
This was a sign of a phenomenon known as "paradoxical undressing", in which people suffering hypothermia experience hot flashes and remove their clothing in confusion, the inquest was told.
Emergency and retrieval physician Ben Butson said the items showed Ms Wallace was likely suffering delirium as a result of both hypothermia and dehydration.
"Patients can sometimes cast away things that might be important to them or lose the ability to maintain a rational course of action," Dr Butson told the inquest in Orange on Tuesday.
The inquest also examined whether authorities' classification of Ms Wallace as a lost hiker affected the search.
She had a history of mental ill health, drug-induced psychosis and had recently used cannabis, characteristics that could make a lost person evade rescuers.
But Dr Butson said the boyfriend's account of their final hours together showed Ms Wallace was unlikely to hide.
At first light, Ms Wallace pointed to a track and suggested following it.
"She was searching for a way out of this situation ... to go somewhere where people were more likely to find her," Dr Butson said.
Counsel assisting Claire Palmer concluded the search areas were appropriate and Ms Wallace's background was properly considered.
Lyn Wallace said her final conversation with her beloved daughter continues to haunt her.
"(Her death was) maybe wrong place, wrong time," Ms Wallace said in a statement.
"Esther was loved and will be missed deeply by our family."
The boyfriend was not implicated in Ms Wallace's death.
Judge Rebecca Hosking will deliver her findings on a later date.
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