The former strongman competitor used his physical strength to raise awareness for mental health and frontline workers who have died in the line of duty.

While hauling the huge truck several metres was impressive enough, especially having spent years away from strength athletics, Mr Edwards has previously pulled a 200-tonne train and a huge HMS Bounty weighing 385 tonnes.

He also held the title of Australia's Strongest Man from 1996 to 2000.

Friday's feat was the first step in working his strength back up, with the ultimate aim of pulling a C-17 Globemaster transport aircraft in Dover this August - just another 188-tonne machine to tick off his list. If successful, he'll score a Guinness World Record.

"About 1995 I got into this, I moved down to Canberra and bumped into an old friend who was starting a strongman circuit and I filled in one day and never looked back," Mr Edwards said.

After breaking quite a few records he decided to take some time away from the sport. He admitted putting his muscles to the test on Friday after this break was tough, but there were two driving factors.

One was his passion to help those who had lost loved ones in the police force.

"It's an issue that often isn't raised in public, which is that people unfortunately die in the line of duty and they leave behind loved ones and families," he said.

"And we want to make sure that we can fund those and look after those folk, the children and the partners."

The second was supporting the mental health of first responders.

"Police are exposed to regular incidents and it does play on your mind," Mr Edwards said.

"We want to make sure that people know that it's okay to say 'hey I'm struggling' and 'hey, I'm not well' because what happens otherwise is people get progressively sicker and sicker and what we don't want is the ultimate and that is unfortunately police suicide."

Mr Edwards knew first hand the mental scars that trauma-related work could cause. In a previous interview with Fairfax Media he opened up about his own struggle with post-traumatic stress disorder.

Donations from Thursday's event went towards the Australian Federal Police Legacy, formerly known as the Chequered Ribbon Association. It provides financial assistance to the families of AFP members who have died.