Visible crew/equipment: At the beginning of the ark chase sequence, Indy jumps into a truck off a horse and fights the driver. He pushes the driver up against the door. At the bottom of the frame you can see the camera shadow. (01:23:35)
Continuity mistake: Several times during the fight in and around the truck the bars around the top of the cab come off and are miraculously back on again. (01:24:05)
Continuity mistake: When the camera shows the back of the truck, there are two soldiers on each side of the truck, plus the sergeant inside it. As there were seven soldiers and one of them fell off the truck - there's a missing soldier in the scene. (01:25:50)
Continuity mistake: While Indy is fighting the German who is driving the truck, you can see that the German has got blood on his left hand, but when he throws Indy through the windscreen his left hand is clean and there is no blood on it. (01:27:10)
Continuity mistake: When Indy goes through the windscreen in the scene where he is fighting the balding blonde German, the stunt double playing the German has a full head of brown hair. (01:27:10)
Revealing mistake: When Indy fights the driver of the Nazi truck, the windshield is smashed when Indy is thrown through it, but there is no wind. Look at the driver's hair, not one stirs from a breeze while driving a fast moving truck with no windshield? (01:27:30)
Revealing mistake: During the truck chase scene, Indiana is thrown or forced over the front of the bonnet and almost run over. There is a wide camera shot, and while holding on to the front fender, Indiana can be seen sitting on a chair which is attached to the truck. (01:27:40)
Revealing mistake: When Indy fights the driver of the Nazi truck, he gets thrown through the windshield, and eventually ends up underneath the truck. When he is climbing underneath the truck, heading towards the back of it, you can see the trench that was dug down the middle of the road to provide the stuntman (this being one of the few stunts that Ford didn't do himself) with the extra room needed to do this feat. (This is backed up by DVD commentary. The director stated that the truck was too low to the ground so they had to dig the trench in order for there to be enough room for the stuntman). (01:27:50)
Revealing mistake: When the German staff car comes into the market place to find no truck, watch as Dietrich hurls the melon - the Gestapo guy in the front is obviously a dummy for this one shot. (01:29:40)
Revealing mistake: When we have the exterior shot of the ship that Harrison Ford, Karen Allen, and the Ark are aboard, specks of dirt can be seen over the view of the ship and the ocean - obviously, it was filmed through the window of another ship. (01:31:35)
Factual error: The film starts in the year 1936, and just like the RPG Indy uses to threaten Belloq with, the MP40s (or at the earliest, MP38s) are an arms-historical anachronism in this movie. As the numbers in their names imply, the MP38 was first produced in 1938. The weapons in the movie are not the similar-looking ERMA MP-36, you can see the ribbed, vertically angled magazine holders typical for the MP40 - its predecessors had either a 30°-canted, smooth magazine holder (MP36) or a round viewing port for checking the ammo (MP38). (01:31:45)
Factual error: Look to the right of the table lamp, there is a bottle of Myers Rum that has the modern plastic (silver/clear) cap and plastic pour spout. Not 1940s era. (01:33:10)
Continuity mistake: Indy looks at the Wurffler through the binoculars. In the next shot, when he takes them off and looks at Katanga, the submarine has moved to the left and astern. (01:34:58)
Continuity mistake: When Marion arrives on the deck of the Bantu Wind, Dietrich turns to look at her. Katanga is in the background, behind the colonel. But, just before Marion hits Dietrich, Katanga appears on the opposite side from where he was and catches Marion. (01:36:00)
Factual error: When Indiana Jones ambushes the Nazis with the Ark, he threatens them with an anti-tank rocket. This is set in 1936, and anti-tank rockets weren't developed until the American M1 in 1942. The Germans immediately copied it from captured weapons and made their own much larger version known as the Panzerschreck, then Panzerfaust. The Russian RPG which Indy is holding was developed from the Panzerfaust in 1949. (01:41:55)
Continuity mistake: Dietrich asks, "If we refuse?" Next to him stand four soldiers in a row, looking at Indy. In the next shot, the soldier who was holding a rifle is gone, and the two with machine guns are now giving their backs to Dietrich. (01:42:52)
Continuity mistake: When Belloq grabs the machine gun, his left hand is on the trigger and his right hand on the gun cartridge as he turns round with his back to the camera, but in the next shot, his right hand is on the trigger and his left hand on the cartridge but in the next shot, his hands have changed position once more, this time left hand on the trigger and right hand on the cartridge. (01:42:55)
Continuity mistake: In the canyon, in the shot of Toht, just before Belloq says "Do as you will", everyone in the background (Marion and her two guards, Dietrich, some soldiers) is gone (taking as reference the giant stone behind Belloq and the characters' positions in the previous and next shots). (01:43:49)
Continuity mistake: As the Ark is placed on the altar, Toht moves to the left of Belloq. Behind the German, a soldier without cap can be seen filming with a hand-held camera. In the next shot, that soldier has moved to the opposite side of the canyon and is squatting. (01:44:24)
Answer: The scene you describe was indeed filmed. It was cut out of the US release of the film although I cannot speak for the Australian version. The scene also appears in the Marvel Comics adaptation. http://www.theraider.net/films/raiders/deleted_scenes.php has a list of this and the other deleted scenes.
Phil C.