I definitely would not be using a hammer and belting the steering wheel, the steering column at all. There are going to be bits that are easily damaged.
What you need to do is make your own puller. I have one here that was home made. As there are no threads in the VR steering wheel you need to make a puller with some hooks on the ends and you can easily do this by grinding some bolts into the right shape so they slide down the holes in the steering wheel and lock onto the bottom edge of the holes. When fitted into the steering wheel and "hooked on" they should be longer than the steering shaft with enough thread on the top so it goes down below the top of tis shaft.
After you have made these get a thick plate of steel, say 4 to 6mm thick and 20mm thick and cut a piece long enough so it longer than the distance between the holes in the steering wheel you insert the hooks into and drill 2 clearance holes for your ground bolts in the correct positions.
Undo the centre nut on the steering shaft so it's proud of the steering shaft thread and fit the tool. Slide the hooked bolts into the steering wheel and place the plate over them so the tops go through the holes in it and fit nuts to the top of the bolts and make sure the bolts are hooked onto the steering wheel then evenly tighten them up forcing the plate down. This will pop the steering wheel from the shaft quickly, easily and without rooting anything.
This is a link to something similar though to make it simple to make you can do without the centre bolt to wind it down and just tighten up nuts evenly on the 2 hooked bolts or you can make one like this or buy one. If you want to make one but don't have a grinder get some threaded rod and bend it 90 degrees and cut to suit creating a hooked end, you may need to heat it up so it does not crack though.
http://www.autotools.com.au/catalogue/product.php/1/AT9509
