Unlike the Boeing, the FMC on the 330 gives you (solely) GPS derived Altitude and groundspeed, Boeing only gives Altitude (777). In amongst all the goings on, why didn't they look at the GPS derived figures on the FMC? The Alt would have been counting down rapidly and the groundspeed would have shown 80ish knots.
Would have solved the 'are we climbing or descending?' questions the PF was asking........................