The text messages that could have saved the hostages inside the Lindt Cafe

UNSEEN CCTV footage from inside the Lindt cafe siege has emerged of the moment police stormed the premises.

UNSEEN CCTV footage has emerged from inside the Lindt cafe siege showing the explosive moment police stormed the premises and killed the gunman.

The vision shows Tactical Operation Unit members entering the main foyer and firing bullets into the cafe towards Lindt siege gunman Man Haron Monis, who was killed in the shoot out after fatally shooting cafe manager Tori Johnson.

The bloodied body of Monis could clearly be seen through the doorway of the cafe as a robot bomb detector entered to check his corpse for explosives.

Moments before CCTV camera footage captured the series of “flash bangs” and shots fired as the police stormed into the cafe to end the siege.

Hostage Katrina Dawson was killed in the police crossfire.

The inquest into the deaths arising from the siege today heard that Monis’ autopsy revealed he sustained “multiple gunshot wounds to the head, left shoulder and lower back, right upper back, buttocks, the left side of the chest, the left axilla, the left upper arm and the right posterior foot”.

Counsel assisting Sophie Callan told the inquest she anticipated the officers would give evidence to prove they stopped firing “once they saw Monis was on the ground and disabled” before entering the cafe.

The inquest heard that Monis had promised everything would be “fine” moments before he pulled the trigger and killed hostage Mr Johnson.

Ms Callan told the inquest that Monis’ behaviour dramatically swayed from calm to “tense and erratic” right up to the final moments of the ordeal.

“You’ll be all right, everyone,” Monis said, according to Ms Callan.

Less than a minute later, Monis fatally shot Mr Johnson in the back after forcing him to his knees.

“Inexplicably, he then said words to the effect of ‘don’t move everything will be fine’,” Ms Callan said.

But the inquiry heard it wasn’t the only sick and twisted game Monis played.

Monis created a points system for his hostages where those who “did the right thing” scored points and those who didn’t attracted debits.

“Monis’ behaviour was tense and erratic with him expressing concern about movements outside the window and telling hostages he was maintaining an account for each of them,” Ms Callan said.

“So that if they did the right thing they would attract points. But if they were not honest that would count as debits against them.

“He continued to be concerned about police coming close to the cafe and had hostages warn negotiators on a number of occasions that the police should stay away or he would shoot one of the hostages.”

Ms Callan said that at other times Monis was fixated on radio coverage of the siege and seemed pleased that police were “emphasising that they were confident the siege could finish peacefully”.

THE GUNMAN USED A BOTTLE TO URINATE IN AND BLOW SMOKE INTO

Monis used a bottle from the cafe kitchen to urinate in so the hostages weren’t left unattended, the inquest heard.

Ms Callan said Monis first indicated he “needed to relieve himself” in the evening.

“He obviously didn’t want to go to the bathroom as this left the hostages unattended,” she said.

“After some discussion a bottle was obtained from the kitchen which Monis took into the corner and urinated into.

“(One of the hostages) then took it to the toilet to empty it.”

Monis also indicated he wanted to have a cigarette but was concerned about setting off smoke alarms and sprinklers.

“After some discussion a bottle was obtained which Monis blew smoke into,” Ms Callan said.

Katrina Dawson was killed by a bullet fragment, while Tori Johnson was shot by Man Haron Monis.

CHILLING CALL FROM HOSTAGE INSIDE THE CAFE

As the day turned into night and the light from Christmas decorations outside the cafe beamed through the windows, Monis grew increasingly paranoid and demanded darkness.

Several calls were made from hostages to negotiators asking for the lights to be turned off throughout the night.

The inquest heard an audio recording of hostage Selina Win Pe’s desperate call to negotiators at 1.12am when she told them she would be shot in 15 minutes if the gunman’s demands weren't met.

“I’m going to get shot in 15 minutes if you don’t have these lights switched off,” Ms Win Pe can be heard saying in the audio.

“You don’t know how close I just came. Could you please have these lights switched off? I have 15 minutes or I’m going to get shot with a rifle. Please.”

The negotiator can be heard telling Ms Win Pe that they were council lights and therefore not able to be turned off immediately.

“My life is going to be gone in 15 minutes if you don’t have someone helping us,” Ms Win Pe responded.

“I have been trying to get him the help to switch these lights off so it’s going to be my fault ... do you understand?”

The call was terminated and Monis can later be heard via surveillance audio suggesting he should meet the 15-minute deadline.

The outside lights weren’t turned off throughout the siege.

The issue will be delved into later in the inquest.

CCTV FOOTAGE SHOWS GUNMAN FIRING SHOTS AT THE HOSTAGES

Incredible CCTV footage played at the inquest on Tuesday showed Monis firing shots at six hostages — Jarrod Hoffman, Puspendu Ghosh, Viswakanth Ankireddy, Harriette Denny, Joel Herat and Julie Taylor — as they took an opportunity to escape and fled the cafe at 2.03am.

The hostages can be seen bolting from the cafe door and into the foyer of the main building as the bullets — which are visible on the recording as flashes of light — are fired at them.

The footage shows the hostages grappling at buttons to open the main door before piling over each other onto the street and making their escape.

Ms Callan said “the strong inference is that Monis was shooting at the hostages” but missed.

She said Monis likely missed his targets “by some margin is consistent with him having limited experience with guns and with the difficulty of aiming his sawn off shotgun”.

“Plus the suddenness of the escape,” she said.

TEXT MESSAGES FROM INSIDE THE CAFE

Hostage Tori Johnson sent text messages to alert authorities of an opportunity to storm the cafe and rescue the hostages but help didn’t come until it was too late, the inquest heard.

Man Horan Monis outside the Downing Centre in 2009.

Ms Callan told the inquest that Mr Johnson sent the first SMS message to Lindt Cafe supervisor Paolo Vassallo, at 7.05pm.

Mr Vassallo was one of the hostages who had earlier escaped the cafe and was recovering in St Vincent’s Hospital when he received the message from Mr Johnson.

Mr Johnson wrote:

“Tell the police the lobby door is unlocked.

“He’s sitting in the corner on his own.”

Ms Callan said Mr Vassallo immediately telephoned one of the detectives and relayed the message.

About 30 minutes later, Mr Johnson sent the same message to a Lindt & Sprungli (Australia) number.

Ms Callan said “what police did on receiving word of these messages is a matter that will be addressed in evidence.”

It has been revealed that the commanders of the state’s Tactical Operations Unit twice proposed activating the Deliberate Action Plan — to storm the cafe on their own terms — the evening before but it had been decided to continue with the policy of “contain and negotiate”.

GUNMAN’S LAST WORDS TO TORI JOHNSON BEFORE HE SHOT HIM DEAD

Surveillance audio played at the inquest revealed Monis’ last words to the hostages less than a minute before he shot Tori Johnson dead.

“At 2.12am Monis is heard saying words to the effect of ‘you’ll be all right everyone’,” Ms Callan said.

“Yet tragically less than a minute later at approximately 2.13am, Monis discharged his weapon for the third time, shooting Tori Johnson in the back of the head, and causing him to fall forward onto the cafe floor.

“Inexplicably, he then said words to the effect of ‘don’t move everything will be fine’.”

‘SIERRA WHITE WINDOW 2: HOSTAGE DOWN’

A sniper, known as ‘Sierra 3’ located in the Westpac building immediately made a call over the Tactical Operations Unit (TOU) radio in response to the shot being fired.

“Sierra White Window 2, Hostage down,” the sniper said.

Ms Callan told the inquest the call was logged, heard by other snipers and “repeated by Sierra 2” who was located at Channel Seven.

“If one was outside the cafe facing the Martin Place side, ‘white window 2’ was the one second from left.”

Authorities then authorised emergency action and directed the Alpha team to storm the cafe.

TOU stormed the cafe despite still believing Monis had a bomb which may kill them all, Ms Callan said. The bomb was a hoax, a speaker with wires hanging out.

The footage played at the inquest showed two TOU officers, named Officer A and Officer B, going into the cafe as the main doors were shattered. They went in behind another officer holding a ballistics shield.

Monis was shot dead and barrister Katrina Dawson was killed by a bullet fragment.

Ms Callan said during this final segment of the inquest, expected to last two months, questions would be asked of the relevant police commanders and the TOU commanders as to whether the emergency trigger should have been set at less than death or serious injury of a hostage.

She said this was because 10 minutes passed between Monis first firing his gun and Mr Johnson being shot.

She said the questioning would focus both on the events that night and police policies while there was evidence that as the siege continued, consideration was given “from time to time” about whether they should change tactics.

Lindt cafe siege: The hostages who escaped

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