FANGED and furred, these majestic cats made awe-inspiring dinner companions.

The kings and queens of the grasslands this weekend tucked into their tea alongside 45 human diners at Cairns Wildlife Safari Reserve’s first Dinner on the Edge.

While visitors sipped Kalahari Sunset cocktails and munched on a gourmet barbecue from the safety of an air-locked zone beside the lion enclosure, the pride tore into tasty morsels of chicken, deer and scrub bull just metres away.

"You’re probably less than 10m away from the lions," owner Jenny Jattke told The Cairns Post.

"There’s just a fence and on their (the lion’s) side, there’s two hot-wires running."

The enormous carnivores drew an awe-struck response from the human diners.

"They just look so regal and so magnificent," Ms Jattke said.

"You don’t realise how big they are until you’re so close to them.

"The females are 170kg and the males about 260kg and they’re right beside you."

And the lions, it seemed, dominated table-conversation with safari-style sound effects.

"To hear the lions roar at night is wonderful,’’ Ms Jattke said.

"You can hear it (the roar) from 9km away, so to be 10m away is amazing."

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