Thanks for the replies, guys.
The wording of bacardis reply reflects our ops manual and all points were adhered to.
Opssys, although it would've been ideal to have had the rear door open with steps attached, it was a very busy time of day with a lot of a/c to turn around. We loaded our pax but had to wait for the refueller and in the meantime the rear steps were removed to service another a/c. It is not uncommon to only have the forward door available for embarking/disembarking whether refuelling, or not.