Man Haron Monis may have fired a warning shot before police stormed Lindt cafe

AFTER a volley of gunfire brought the 17-hour siege to an end, new analysis shows the single shot fired by Man Haron Monis may have been a warning.

IT was a single shot that prompted police to storm the Lindt cafe before a volley of gunfire erupted bringing the 17-hour siege to an end as they feared for the safety of those inside.

But new information indicates the bullet released by crazed gunman Man Haron Monis may not have been aimed at any of the hostages, but fired as a warning.

Hostage survivor Joel Herat, 21, told his family a group of hostages took the risk of kicking down an internal door to make their escape startling Monis into firing that shot, according to Fairfax Media, contradicting earlier reports he had begun to doze off.

Nine News has obtained vision showing the hostage-taker approaching the cafe’s window before firing a gunshot from inside as police prepared to close in.

A group of hostages kicked down the door, startling the gunman as they tried to escape. (AP Photo/Rob Griffith)

Channel 7 screen grabs of the Lindt Martin Place terror hostage. Muslim flag at the window, sniper

Early details of the police investigation reveal the cafe’s manager Tori Johnson was executed by the gunman, shot in the head at close range.

The new video appears to show the first shot being fired may not have been the one that killed the 34-year-old, but one of multiple rounds fired after the bang prompted police to storm the location.

Post-mortems have been carried out on both Mr Johnson and fellow victim Katrina Dawson, while police expect the autopsy on Monis to be finished by Friday.

Tori Johnson.

Katrina Dawson.

Ms Dawson was also injured in the siege and died later of a heart attack, a police source confirmed yesterday.

While the investigation is still in its infancy it appears Mr Johnson had already been hit with a shotgun blast before police shot Monis multiple times.

The NSW Homicide Squad has begun to investigate the sequence of events leading up to the deaths of Mr Johnson, 34, and Ms Dawson, 38, as well as 50-year-old Monis.

Police said they did not yet have an official cause of death for the three and would not be commenting until the investigation was over.

Tori Johnson was shot by Monis at close range.

Mr Johnson, the popular Lindt cafe manager, was initially reported to have attempted to grab the gun from Monis.

All of the weapons from ­officers involved in the forced entry into the cafe have now been handed to the NSW Ballistics Unit for testing as well as the shotgun used by Monis.

Detectives will also try to determine where and how he got the weapon.

Scientific officers have spent the past two days gathering forensic evidence at the Lindt cafe.

A key part of the investigations will be tracing where the bullets travelled when fired by police.

Investigators are also sifting through CCTV footage from inside the cafe as well as thousands of hours of footage from Martin Place, railway stations and media outlets.

A staff member held hostage was forced to switch off the cafe’s lights leaving hostages in darkness. Pic: Craig Greenhill

Monis could be seen through the cafe’s windows.

The primary goal will be determine the cause of the death of the three and who is responsible.

Police will use all available tools to recreate the events of those final few moments before police burst into the Lindt cafe.

“I would suspect at some stage Martin Place will be closed off, probably late at night where they would attempt to reconstruct the event,’’ a senior NSW police officer said.

“It is a major investigation which will look at every aspect of the incident.

“They will be looking at how Monis got the gun, how he got to the cafe, what his motivation was.

“Besides interviewing all those people directly involved they will be trawling all social media sites Monis has viewed.

“They will look at his phone records, computers.

“Any data they can as well as interviewing his associates and even neighbours.”

Man Haron Monis was shot several times by police.