Three hostages are reported to have either escaped or been released by the gunmen. That's good news.

Lets hope this is a sign that the rest will soon follow.

There's now a confirmed report that two more hostages have escaped or been freed.

The remaining hostages are currently being fed.

City Circle trains are running on time but all stations are being patrolled by police. Eastern Suburbs trains were back in service earlier today but trains are shooting through Martin Place Station without stopping as this station is right under the scene of the siege.

The Bridge was only closed earlier because a police officer came off his motorbike on the Cahill Expressway. The Bridge was reopened shortly after but the Cahill Expressway remained closed until the police officer and his bike were removed.

Buses that normally start at Circular Quay are picking up fares from St James and Town Hall Stations. Bus tickets are being recognised on rail services.

The five hostages that are free escaped the scene and the Ch 7 crew filming the siege from the news studios captured footage of the gunman getting angry when he discovered the escapes.

The gunman is reported to have since offered to release a hostage in exchange for an ISIL flag (the flag displayed this morning is that of an Al Qaeda splinter group but with similar text to the flag used by ISIL) and a further five hostages in return for a live radio interview with the Prime Minister.

The latter request has been reported to be formally refused by police. It is still not known as to whether there is a bomb in the gunman's backpack and his motive for the siege hasn't been publicised.

No change to the hostage situation at the moment and the standoff with police continues.

An exclusion zone has been drawn up and a map of this area is available at the Government of NSW website.

Most of us will have awoken to the news this morning that the siege in Martin Place, Sydney has ended with some tragic consequences. At about 02:15 this morning the gunman, now known to be an Iranian refugee that became the self-appointed Sheik Man Haron Monis started letting off rounds from his pump action shotgun. This lead to the police to raid the Lindt Café to arrest Monis and rescue the remaining hostages. Monis was killed in a shootout with police however unfortunately two hostages also fell. Most of the hostages managed to escape though four hostages and a police officer were treated in hospitals for minor injuries.

As it turns out, Monis has numerous allegations made against him. He is currently on bail, suspected of being an accessory to the murder of his wife and has allegations of sexual assault outstanding as well. He is also known to ASIO because of prior hard-line Islamic beliefs. He was also convicted for sending hate letters to the widows of Australian soldiers who were killed in the War Against Terrorism.

Monis had his own website though this is not operating this morning.

This is a clear case, I believe, of where our courts have let us down. Monis has a history of mental illness and was given bail after a court was told of his alleged involvement in his wife's murder. Even before allowing for his suspected sexual assaults this is obviously not an acceptable outcome. He was not formally a part of the terror group ISIL though his demand for an ISIL flag yesterday afternoon seems to be an obvious attempt for him to die under that flag, at the peril of as many people as possible.

This bastard got his five minutes of world fame. What a pointless and ultimately wasteful outcome it would come to produce though, with two innocent people killed.

Under the circumstances I think the police have done the best job they could do.

http://www.news.com.au/national/martin-place-cafe-siege-police-storm-cafe-and-kill-gunman-sheik-man-haron-monis/story-fncynjr2-1227157498633.

Yeah its very sad I feel so sorry for the families that lost loved ones here

but unfortunately it was a more likely thing to happen..I so hoped they would all get out safely thought

I'll stay away from further comment as any from me or anyone really is all opinions, thoughts & views and that wont change the tragic event this was that unfolded

Thought yes there are plenty of questions that need answering here, agree

The only thing I will say is try to remember your humanity & love, not your anger, thought we do have every right to feel angry about this that wont solve what has happened

With deepest Sympathy & Condolences to all those that lost loved ones
Those that will suffer this trauma for the rest of their lives my heart goes out to you all.

The bigger aside to this is the sensationalist and comprehensively boring repetitive & ill considered way the media has handled this incident. They copped a hell of a lot of flack on ABC radio this morning and deserved it.

What they have basically done, is said to every nutter with a cause. Take hostages & create an incident & the press will beat a path to you door to give you days of coverage.

The "do gooders' as Laws called them, Immigration & the Courts have a lot to answer for. With the record that character had, the question that has been asked, & needs a serious looking into is what this character was doing outside of a prison, on bail. They now have blood on their hands.

The annoyance is that the fact that I have around a twenty mile fire front out of control, to my west with an 8 gusting to 17 knot wind driving it into the hills between it & me, and it and several towns are in its path in other directions, it is also in danger of joining another. Roads are closed and evacuation is happening.

This of course seems unimportant

I got pretty much the same message last night when watching the news. Whilst the emergency ended 14 hours prior, the 6PM news only carried one story - the siege.

A media frenzy is understandable during a crisis but once that's over things should return to normal.

I did my electrical apprenticeship with the Department of Health and was posted at Gladesville Hospital for most of that time. At the time it was operating, this hospital was the Nation's first lunatic asylum. The building next to our workshops (Ward 29) housed those deemed criminally insane - ie: the worst of the worst of the incurables - people who were so fanatical about their cause that they simply did not care about their own welfare let alone that of anyone else.

This was where Sheik Haron, or whatever he wanted to be called, should have been. The trouble is, during the mid 1990s the NSW Government closed most of its psychiatric hospitals. In fact, when he arrived in the country in 1996 he, and those who came with him claimed to be refugees, should have been subject to psychiatric screening as part of their admission process. This bloke was a loose cannon almost from the moment he arrived.

As for bushfires, yep, it's that time of the year and there are fires raging in Victoria and Western Australia. New South Wales is pretty much due its turn to bear the brunt of the bigger fires though there's been patchy rain around of late. Not enough to cure the drought that much of the state is in but enough to dampen the tinderbox effect. That's the good news, the bad news is that for the last two days it has been quite windy with no rain. That will bring the tinderbox effect back and then it'll be on if we have a hot Christmas. Then we'll have another type of nutter to deal with - the firebug.

Then we'll have another type of nutter to deal with - the firebug.

Unfortunately, too many arsonists are still found amongst the ranks of the RFS.

It's a sad fact that arsonists are naturally attracted to the RFS and despite a rigorous screening process, manage to get in. The NSW RFS is the largest volunteer fire fighting service in the world with over 70 000 members so the one or two trouble makers weeded out every year is a miniscule percentage. An arsonist will be an arsonist whether a member of the RFS or not. One positive is that their 'habit' is more likely to be exposed if they're an RFS member.

Quite a few have been caught over the years and it is a testament to the good work the police do in tracking them down and locating sufficient evidence to submit in court.

On another note, one thing that annoyed me quite a bit yesterday was the loud-mouthed 'experts' claiming that the SAS should have taken over the siege situation from the police, with some sort of viewpoint that they could have got all the hostages out alive.

Without taking anything away from the fact that the SAS are highly trained, highly skilled and extremely fit and rugged soldiers and could have handled themselves well on the day I doubt the result would have been any different. The police unit given the responsibility of quelling the siege are trained specifically for that exact role and despite the unfortunate ending they carried that role out with professionalism, level heads and great courage.

The police sniper located inside the TV station was in possession of a high powered rifle designed to hit its target hard. It is most likely that he did not fire because his projectile would have had to travel through the laminated window of the TV station plus the plate glass window of the café. At the very least the first window could have easily steered the sniper's bullet off course and either missed the target, making him angrier or hitting one of the hostages - something the loud-mouthed 'experts' (who've most likely never held a gun let alone used one under pressure) simply do not understand.

I've always thought that refighting a battle on Monday morning, so to say, is a pointless and insensitive exercise. One thing that has impressed me is the floral memorial taking shape in Martin Place. I'd hate to be the person given the job of removing it. Even though the flowers will die off, it wouldn't feel right.

There are reports that Monis was still in possession of a valid firearms licence yesterday morning.

Since he was on bail for two capital offences why didn't the magistrate at his committal hearing order the licence and his firearms 'forfeit to the Queen'? It is supposed to be automatic revocation until at least the matters have been resolved.

The issues surrounding Monis' erratic behaviour, criminal history and how his latest offences have been handled by the judiciary probably should be amongst the first brought into question.

Seems there is egg on faces throughout the system over this case. Just goes to show how complacent authorities can be about the security processes they think they have in place.

I remember back about twenty years when I got my first firearms and security licences. You couldn't just post away an application to an office full of clerks for processing. You had to go to a police station and look the licencing sergeant in the eye and plead and beg. If the copper didn't like the look of you he'd stand there and question your motives.

These days things are a little different, in NSW at least. As I understand it, required documents such as written character references, reasons for getting a licence and certifications are not verified in the application process. For security licencing a criminal record check is done plus you have to have your mug photographed and dabs taken. I don't think this applies to firearms licencing though.

The other thing I am not sure of is if a criminal record check is done on those appearing in court. If there is no double check on this then how do they know who they are letting back into the community?

And for people like Monis, if they are up on charges then the police should just do a dawn raid and seize whatever they find if lies have been told in court, etc.

I see that the NSW Police are now denying Abbott's claim that Monis had a gun licence. I hope that's true, for the sake of the integrity of the licensing system.