The Australian Broadcasting Corporation has apologised for its Race Around the World episode that featured a fictional scenario involving a violent attack on businesswoman Gina Rinehart.

In a statement issued on Thursday, ABC’s managing director Hugh Marks apologised to Gina Rinehart after a contestant on the show made a video fantasising about committing an act of sexualised violence on the billionaire mining magnate.

The four-minute video titled “A Very Relaxing Video”, which was aired on the July 12 episode of its Race Around The World program, has been removed from ABC platforms.

“The ABC refers to the film in a recent episode of Race Around the World referencing Mrs Gina Rinehart AO,” Mr Marks said in a statement.

“While the Ombudsman has found that the film did not breach the ABC’s editorial policies, the ABC acknowledges the episode has fallen short of community expectations.

“The ABC apologises to Mrs Rinehart and to anyone else affected or upset by the publication of the film.

“As part of our review of this matter, we have considered whether the guidance in the ABC Editorial Policies adequately reflects current community expectations.

“We have also considered whether the relevant guidance sufficiently distinguishes between news and non-news content.

“As a result, the ABC will amend its guidance as it applies to violence.

“The film has been edited on the ABC’s platforms to remove the relevant material.”

It comes after Hancock Prospecting, where Mrs Rinehart is executive chair, had given legal notice to ABC chair Kim Williams, deputy chair Lisa Caffery and Mr Marks, alleging the ABC breached multiple Australian criminal and civil laws by continuing to publish that segment.