diff --git a/examples/examples/block_extrinsics.rs b/examples/examples/block_extrinsics.rs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..6bde5b0bb5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/examples/examples/block_extrinsics.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,86 @@
+// Copyright 2019-2023 Parity Technologies (UK) Ltd.
+// This file is dual-licensed as Apache-2.0 or GPL-3.0.
+// see LICENSE for license details.
+
+//! To run this example, a local polkadot node should be running. Example verified against polkadot v0.9.28-9ffe6e9e3da.
+//!
+//! E.g.
+//! ```bash
+//! curl "https://github.com/paritytech/polkadot/releases/download/v0.9.28/polkadot" --output /usr/local/bin/polkadot --location
+//! polkadot --dev --tmp
+//! ```
+
+use futures::StreamExt;
+use sp_keyring::AccountKeyring;
+use std::time::Duration;
+use subxt::blocks::ExtrinsicError;
+use subxt::{tx::PairSigner, OnlineClient, PolkadotConfig};
+
+#[subxt::subxt(runtime_metadata_path = "../artifacts/polkadot_metadata.scale")]
+pub mod polkadot {}
+
+/// Subscribe to all events, and then manually look through them and
+/// pluck out the events that we care about.
+#[tokio::main]
+async fn main() -> Result<(), Box<dyn std::error::Error>> {
+    tracing_subscriber::fmt::init();
+
+    // Create a client to use:
+    let api = OnlineClient::<PolkadotConfig>::new().await?;
+
+    // Subscribe to (in this case, finalized) blocks.
+    let mut block_sub = api.blocks().subscribe_finalized().await?;
+
+    // While this subscription is active, balance transfers are made somewhere:
+    tokio::task::spawn({
+        let api = api.clone();
+        async move {
+            let signer = PairSigner::new(AccountKeyring::Alice.pair());
+            let mut transfer_amount = 1_000_000_000;
+
+            // Make small balance transfers from Alice to Bob in a loop:
+            loop {
+                let transfer_tx = polkadot::tx()
+                    .balances()
+                    .transfer(AccountKeyring::Bob.to_account_id().into(), transfer_amount);
+                api.tx()
+                    .sign_and_submit_default(&transfer_tx, &signer)
+                    .await
+                    .unwrap();
+
+                tokio::time::sleep(Duration::from_secs(10)).await;
+                transfer_amount += 100_000_000;
+            }
+        }
+    });
+
+    // Get each finalized block as it arrives.
+    while let Some(block) = block_sub.next().await {
+        let block = block?;
+
+        let block_hash = block.hash();
+
+        println!(" Block {:?}", block_hash);
+        // Ask for the extrinsics for this block.
+        for extrinsic in block.body().await?.extrinsics() {
+            println!("  Extrinsic index {:?}", extrinsic.index());
+
+            let decoded: Result<
+                polkadot::runtime_types::polkadot_runtime::RuntimeCall,
+                ExtrinsicError,
+            > = extrinsic.decode();
+            match decoded {
+                Ok(decoded) => {
+                    println!("    Decoded extrinsic: {:?}", decoded);
+                }
+                Err(err) => {
+                    println!("    Decoded extrinsic with error: {:?}", err);
+                }
+            }
+        }
+
+        println!("\n");
+    }
+
+    Ok(())
+}
diff --git a/subxt/src/blocks/block_types.rs b/subxt/src/blocks/block_types.rs
index 3c98e40d39..e27352e74c 100644
--- a/subxt/src/blocks/block_types.rs
+++ b/subxt/src/blocks/block_types.rs
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@ use crate::{
     runtime_api::RuntimeApi,
     storage::Storage,
 };
+use codec::Decode;
 use derivative::Derivative;
 use futures::lock::Mutex as AsyncMutex;
 use std::sync::Arc;
@@ -160,6 +161,37 @@ where
     pub fn bytes(&self) -> &'a [u8] {
         self.bytes
     }
+
+    /// Decode the extrinsic to the provided return type.
+    pub fn decode<Ext: Decode>(&self) -> Result<Ext, ExtrinsicError> {
+        const SIGNATURE_MASK: u8 = 0b1000_0000;
+        const VERSION_MASK: u8 = 0b0111_1111;
+        const LATEST_EXTRINSIC_VERSION: u8 = 4;
+
+        // Extrinsic are encoded in memory in the following way:
+        //   - Compact<u32>: Length of the extrinsic
+        //   - first byte: abbbbbbb (a = 0 for unsigned, 1 for signed, b = version)
+        //   - signature: emitted `ParaInherent` must be unsigned.
+        //   - extrinsic data
+        if self.bytes.is_empty() {
+            return Err(ExtrinsicError::InsufficientData);
+        }
+
+        let is_signed = self.bytes[0] & SIGNATURE_MASK != 0;
+        if is_signed {
+            return Err(ExtrinsicError::SignatureUnsupported);
+        }
+
+        let version = self.bytes[0] & VERSION_MASK;
+        if version != LATEST_EXTRINSIC_VERSION {
+            return Err(ExtrinsicError::UnsupportedVersion(version));
+        }
+
+        let mut bytes = Vec::new();
+        bytes.extend_from_slice(&self.bytes[1..]);
+
+        Ext::decode(&mut &bytes[..]).map_err(ExtrinsicError::DecodingError)
+    }
 }
 
 impl<'a, T, C> Extrinsic<'a, T, C>
@@ -175,6 +207,19 @@ where
     }
 }
 
+/// Error resulted from decoding an extrinsic.
+#[derive(Debug)]
+pub enum ExtrinsicError {
+    /// Expected more extrinsic bytes.
+    InsufficientData,
+    /// Unsupported signature.
+    SignatureUnsupported,
+    /// The extrinsic has an unsupported version.
+    UnsupportedVersion(u8),
+    /// Decoding error.
+    DecodingError(codec::Error),
+}
+
 /// The events associated with a given extrinsic.
 #[derive(Derivative)]
 #[derivative(Debug(bound = ""))]
diff --git a/subxt/src/blocks/mod.rs b/subxt/src/blocks/mod.rs
index d60df23d99..c987760ce0 100644
--- a/subxt/src/blocks/mod.rs
+++ b/subxt/src/blocks/mod.rs
@@ -7,5 +7,5 @@
 mod block_types;
 mod blocks_client;
 
-pub use block_types::{Block, Extrinsic, ExtrinsicEvents};
+pub use block_types::{Block, Extrinsic, ExtrinsicEvents, ExtrinsicError};
 pub use blocks_client::{subscribe_to_block_headers_filling_in_gaps, BlocksClient};