The mother of two, who is due to give birth on Easter Monday, found the intruder in her Aberglasslyn home about 4am yesterday when she woke to check on her children, three-year-old Taya and 22-month-old Axel.

Walking into the main foyer of her home, she encountered the unwelcome guest.

As he fled through the couple's garage, Mrs Matten gave chase while screaming for help.

"I don't know what I would have done anyway if I'd caught him," she said.

"I couldn't open my hands from the adrenaline."

"I came back in to check on the little fellow [Axel] and he said 'Mummy chucked a Batman'."

Her husband Peter, who joined the chase when he heard his wife's screams, lost the man about 500 metres from the house.

The couple spent yesterday reliving the terrifying moment on home security footage, shocked to find three men had been in and out of their house for over an hour.

Footage shows the men apparently entering through a side door and spending about 20 minutes inside the house before exiting with Mrs Matten's handbag and what appears to be Mr Matten's mobile phone.

The men then returned shortly before 4am, examining the security cameras before re-entering the house.

It was then that Mrs Matten discovered them.

"If I hadn't got out of bed, who knows how many times they might have come back," she said.

Mr Matten said he was just glad his family was safe, believing the thieves had come back to take the incriminating video recordings.

"The house isn't that big, how can you spend that long in here," he said.

"I don't think they went into the bedrooms, but we don't know."

A pair of balled-up black gloves were also taken from the house, just metres from where Mr Matten's father Barry was sleeping in the living room.

One of the intruders appears to be wearing the gloves on the tape when they return to the house a second time.

"That's how long they've been there, that they went through what looked like a pair of socks," she said.

Police yesterday conducted forensic tests on several items believed to have been left behind by the attackers, including shoes abandoned by one during the Mattens' foot chase.

Investigations are continuing, and anyone with information is asked to call Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.