It was the night a handful of police ended up facing off against more than 50 bikies who were intent on brawling in the midst of dining hub Broadbeach.

With police outnumbered and screaming for back up, one senior officer warned the swarm of aggressive, fired-up Bandidos: “There’s a lot of (junior police) with guns … they’re scared. You’ve got to get them (the other bikies) back.”

Surfers Paradise MP John-Paul Langbroek who was there at the time 10 years ago recalls telling then-Premier Campbell Newman cracking down on out-of-control motorcycle gangs was the number one priority: “The bikies defied the police – we were on the edge of anarchy.”

WATCH EPISODE ONE NOW

Secret texts, raging Bandidos and the edge of anarchy: Wild truth that sparked infamous bikie brawl exposed

WATCH EPISODE TWO NOW

‘I was shocked’: What Gold Coast police got wrong in bikie war

When Campbell Newman became Premier in 2012 there was never any intention of making the Gold Coast’s bikie gangs public enemy No. 1.

The conservatives were back in power for the first time in 14 years and had more pressing matters to deal with than crime gangs.

But the Broadbeach bikie brawl on September 27, 2013 changed everything.

WATCH EPISODE THREE NOW

How VLAD was ‘a lot of wasted resources and wasted time’

In the early summer of 2003, Gold Coast’s tourism heart’s image was hurting.

National media coverage is focused on drunken teenage schoolies, street gangs, drugs and hoons.

Part 3 of The Brawl series takes a deep dive into the response to the crisis.