Police are investigating if Joel Cauchi was targeting women when he murdered six people, including Ashlee Good, Jade Young, Dawn Singleton, Pikria Darchia and Faraz Tahir, during a nightmarish stabbing spree in Sydney.

The Queensland man entered the busy Bondi Junction Westfield shopping centre around 3.10 pm on Saturday afternoon, the first day of school holidays, and took a large knife from his backpack, before killing five women and one man.