Australian police have shot and killed Dezi Freeman after the double-murderer spent seven months on the run.
A well-known conspiracy theorist, Freeman gunned down two police officers on his property in the small Victorian town of Porepunkah last August, before fleeing into dense bushland and evading extensive searches.
Victoria Police say a man was shot dead after an hours-long standoff at a rural property in the state's north-east on Monday morning. Chief Commissioner Mike Bush said the man is believed to be Freeman, 56, but formal identification is still underway.
Today an evil man is dead, said Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan. It's over.
Police say they surrounded a building - described as a cross between a shipping container and a long caravan - on a rural property around 5:30 local time.
After three hours and multiple police pleas, a man believed to be Freeman came outside and was shot dead.
Details are still being confirmed, Bush told reporters, but he believes Freeman emerged wrapped in a blanket and armed with a gun, possibly one taken from one of the slain officers back in August.
Our ultimate goal was to arrest the person, Bush said. There was an opportunity for him to surrender peacefully but he did not.
No officers were hurt during the operation, police said, which will be investigated, as is standard in police shootings.
The squad sent to Freeman's property on 26 August was there to search it over an investigation into sex offences, when two senior constables - Neal Thompson and Vadim de Waart - were killed by Freeman.
Their families were the first to be told about Freeman's death, Bush said, adding that it would take 24 to 48 hours to confirm the identity of the body.
Should [his identity] be confirmed… this brings closure to what was a tragic and terrible event.
Investigators believe Freeman was helped while he was on the run, and detectives will now focus on working out who gave him aid, Bush added.
In a statement on Monday, the Police Association of Victoria said Freeman's death was a step forward - but not quite closure.
It doesn't lessen the trauma, give back the futures that were callously stolen or lessen the collective fear and grief that this tragic event has instilled in police and the wider public.