Federal and Victoria security agencies have mounted a terrorism investigation following an attack on Bourke Street in Melbourne's C-B-D.
The offender has been identified as Hassan Khalif Shire Ali, a 30-year old Somalian-born man.
After 4pm on Friday afternoon (nov 9) Shire Ali set a car alight by igniting gas cylinders, then stabbed three men before he was shot by police in the chest.
The assailant died in hospital.
Victoria's Chief Commissioner Graham Ashton says that Shire Ali was aiming for maximum impact.
"It looks like there's been some attempt to light a fire, and some materials were there that he was planning to ignite, and it did ignite. There were gas cylinders in the car and the gas cylinders had been turned to the open position. It certainly wasn't anything remotely sophisticated, evidenced by the fact that it wasn't effective. The car's basically just caught fire, and the fire brigade was able to, fire and rescue were able to terminate the fire pretty quickly."
I-S has claimed responsibility for the attack, although they have provided no evidence for the claim.
Counter-terrorism investigations are continuing into the suspect's background, with raids having been undertaken on two properties in Werribee and Meadows Heights.
Commissioner Graham Ashton says the attacker and his family members were known to police on terrorism-related matters.
"From what we know of that individual, we are treating this as a terrorism incident we now know a bit more about the identity of that person, initially they didn't have any identification on them but we but we now believe we have confirmation of the identity of that person. This is an ongoing investigation now by the counter-terrorism command, which is a joint command with us and the Federal agencies."
Shire Ali was the brother of a man arrested by police late last year in relation to committing acts in preparation for a terrorist attack.
The Australian Federal Police (AFP) has confirmed Shire Ali held radical views and his passport was cancelled in 2015 when the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) assessed he planned to travel to Syria.
But despite authorities saying he was a person of interest, Victoria's Chief Commissioner Graham Ashton has admitted to the Nine Network the attack came by surprise.
"Look, he is someone that was known to us but the information that we had through the night, we with working on, he wasn't somebody that we were actively monitoring to that level in relation to his activities, no."
The A-F-P's Acting Deputy Commissioner for National Security Ian McCartney says authorities will now work to unravel what was planned.
"In terms of the assessment on this individual, he was never a target of the JCTT* in terms of the investigations we undertake. The assessment was made that whilst he had radicalised views he didn't oppose a threat in relation to the national security environment. Obviously, the circumstances of how he and when he moved from having these radicalised views to carrying out this attack yesterday will be a key focus of the investigation."
The attack brings memories back of another Bourke Street tragedy on January 20 last year ((2017)), when six people were killed and dozens injured as a car ploughed into them.
Victoria's Chief Commissioner Graham Ashton says it appears unlikely there is a link between the timing of this attack and the trial of the accused murderer in the 2017 attack.
"This is something that we're looking for but there's been nothing obtained so far, showing that there's any ideological link between that ongoing trial and the publicity around that, and this event."
In response to the attack, Prime Minister Scott Morrison has called out what he's calling radical violent, extremist Islam.
Mr Morrison says he's the first person to protect religious freedoms, but that means he also has to be the first person to call out extremism.
"Religious extremism takes many forms around the world and no religion is immune from it. That is the lesson of history and sadly modern history as well. But here in Australia, we would be kidding ourselves if we did not call out the fact that the greatest threat of religious extremism in this country is the radical and dangerous ideology of extremist Islam."
He's applauded those within the Australian Muslim community but says religious leaders must ensure extremism isn't being taught.
"But there is a special responsibility on religious leaders to protect their religious communities and to ensure that dangerous teachings and ideologies do not take root here are. They must be proactive. They must be alert and they must call this out in their communities. We must work respectfully together. Government, community, religious leaders, to ensure that we continue to prevail in the face of this evil."
In a statement to SBS news, the Somali Community of Victoria's spokesman Ahmed Hassan has said the community is praying for the victims, their families and those injured during the attack.
Mr Hassan says Somali Australians are peaceful people and is hopeful all Australians can come together to ensure terrorism is eradicated.
Along with other community members, Melbourne's Lord Mayor Sally Capp has thanked first responders, emergency workers and the public.
"Police acted very quickly to take control of the situation and minimise public harm. I'm also very respectful and thankful to the people of Melbourne who were in that vicinity at the time who listened to instructions from police. Obviously some members of the public were incredibly brave in response to the situation."
Authorities will continue to remain on high alert, although they do believe this was a lone wolf attack as the threat level remains at probable.
Commissioner Graham Ashton, with Victoria Police, says additional police will be deployed over the coming days.
"That'll be the case for certainly this weekend. They're certainly there at the moment. So people will see additional police moving around that area and the purpose of that is to reassure the community with their visible police presence."
