Megan Levy
Sydney's CBD is in lockdown as police negotiate with a gunman who stormed into the busy Lindt Chocolat Cafe in Martin Place on Monday morning and took customers and staff hostage.
In extraordinary and terrifying scenes, hostages could be seen through the cafe's windows with their hands held in the air, while heavily armed police surrounded the building.
A number of hostages were being forced to hold an Islamic flag against the window shortly after the siege began at 9.45am.
Thousands of workers across the city have been sent home early and some of the city's major buildings evacuated.
They include the Opera House, the State Library, Channel Seven, the NSW parliamentary executive offices, the NSW Supreme Court's criminal courts, the Downing Centre, and several city legal chambers.
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