Transfixed, the nation watched the Sydney siege unfold via TV screens, online reports and social media feeds. A number of Illawarra locals watched it unfold through their own windows.
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South Coast Labour Council secretary Arthur Rorris described teams of heavily armed police running "over the top of my bonnet" as he drove near Martin Place about 10am.
Mr Rorris was travelling on Macquarie Street, near Martin Place, when he found himself in the middle of an unprecedented police stand-off.
"I had been in meetings and didn't get any messages about what was going on. We stopped at the lights near Martin Place and two dozen heavily armed police in riot gear went virtually over the top of my bonnet," he said.
He called the situation "pretty surreal", describing the "eerie quiet" as normally bustling Martin Place was instead filled by emergency crews.
"They hadn't cordoned everything off yet," Mr Rorris said.
Ken Whittingham was locked down in an office next to the Channel 7 building in Martin Place.
"They've locked down a lot of the buildings and they've extended the police tape to just in front of our building," he said about midday.
Mr Whittingham works at PPB Advisory, just off Martin Place.
He is a Sutherland local, but has family and work links to the Illawarra.
He said his building was preparing to be evacuated.
"They haven't told us much," he said.
"It's a bit of a ghost town down there. I'm looking at the scrum of media, and all the police and fire engines."
Mr Whittingham said his office had decided to let staff go home at 3.30pm, due to the tense environment around their workplace.
Kiama MP Gareth Ward had a staffer, working in his Sydney office, caught in the lockdown of NSW parliamentary premises.
Other Illawarra MPs Anna Watson, Shelley Hancock and Noreen Hay were also in their electorates on Monday and not in Sydney.
Ms Hay spent the day in Wollongong but said two of her children were caught in the Martin Place chaos.
"My son got notified his building was evacuated, that was before he got in," Ms Hay said.
"The other one is at work and has been told to stay inside the building."
Former Illawarra student Dean Martelozzo said his office, 300 metres from the Lindt cafe, was in lockdown for much of the day.
Mr Martelozzo, working in a graduate program with Perpetual investment services group on Pitt Street, said management had told staff to stay indoors.
"There was an announcement in the building, that the Sydney alert system had advised everyone to stay in the building," he said.
Mr Martelozzo said staff spent the day monitoring media for updates.