The 22-year-old sex worker had grand plans to become a dancer in Japan when she vanished during her last shift as an escort on November 5, 1994.
An inquest into one of Sydney's most notorious cold cases resumed on Tuesday when Ms Balmain's former boss Jane King gave evidence about her employee's disappearance.
The former madam broke down in tears when asked why she had not asked her then-husband Zoran Stanojevic for the names of the men Ms Balmain was seeing when she vanished.
"I was trying to survive," she told counsel assisting Matthew Johnston SC.
"I know I'm not the victim here but I lived a life of terror for so long."
The clients - who have been referred to as both Yugoslavs and Serbs during the inquest - had links to her then-husband.
Ms King accused Mr Stanojevic of domestic violence and coercive control, telling the inquest they have since separated.
At the time of Ms Balmain's disappearance, the then-couple ran the escort agency Select Companions where she worked.
The 22-year-old had completed a booking with client Gavin Samers when he dropped her off at a hotel in Kingsford, in Sydney's east, at 7pm.Â
She missed a 10pm booking and has not been heard from since.
Ms King initially told police in 1995 that her husband had no reaction when Ms Balmain did not turn up.
But in 2008 she told investigating officers that he had been furious.
On Tuesday, she blamed the change on the untenable position her ex-husband had placed her in.
"I was in denial about my own situation," the former madam said.
"Denial's a very powerful thing."
Ms King testified that she had not asked her husband where he was at the time Ms Balmain disappeared, telling the inquest that she believed he was at work.
Mr Stanojevic is expected to give evidence at the inquest on Thursday.
Ms King became worried about the escort and called her flatmate the day after she missed a booking, she told the inquest.
She rejected suggestions by Mr Johnston that her primary motivation for chasing Ms Balmain was because she owed the business money.
The outstanding funds - which amounted to several hundred dollars - would have been taken out of what Ms Balmain earned that night, Ms King said.
"No one was hunting Revelle for money," she told the inquest.
A missed pager message sent to Ms Balmain the morning after she disappeared read "pls call Zoran to arrange settlement of your account".
She couldn't remember what was discussed during a one-minute phone call to Mr Stanojevic about 8pm on the Saturday night that Ms Balmain disappeared.
She denied making any calls from the landline in her two-bedroom apartment to her husband, despite records showing five calls made that night and during the early hours of the following morning.
Her husband had returned home the following day with complaints about drama at work after Ms Balmain missed her booking and his vehicle had a flat tyre, Ms King told the inquest.
He told her not to call police as that would alert the model's family, who did not know she was working as an escort.
"She'll turn up, don't worry, she always does," he allegedly said.
When there had still been no word from the model on Monday, Ms King contacted police while her husband was sleeping.
A previous inquest in 1999 found Ms Balmain had died at the hands of a person or persons unknown and the matter was referred to the Unsolved Homicide Unit.
A fresh investigation between 2007 and 2009 followed by a formal review in 2020 failed to produce any compelling evidence in the case.
Authorities offered a $1 million reward for information in 2021.
The inquest continues.
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