Authorities have arrested several people with suspected links to the terror group Islamic State following pre-dawn raids across Sydney and Brisbane.
It's believed the raids in 12 northwest Sydney suburbs were pre-emptive in nature, amid fears there were plans to carry out a series of attacks in Australia.
The Australian Federal Police (AFP) has confirmed to AAP it was also executing search warrants in the Brisbane suburbs of Mount Gravatt East, Logan and Underwood, but wouldn't confirm if the operation was linked to the raids in Sydney.
The arrests in Sydney follow months of surveillance of people linked to the terrorist group Islamic State, which has been cutting a barbaric path through Iraq and Syria.
It's believed those arrested in Sydney could have links to a Brisbane man now facing terrorism related charges.
About 600 state and federal police, as well as ASIO officers, are involved in the Sydney operation, which was launched in the early hours of Thursday morning and was ongoing.
The suburbs include Beecroft, Bellavista, Guildford, Merrylands, Northmead, Wentworthville, Marsfield, Westmead, Castle Hill, Revesby, Bass Hill and Regents Park.
'We've committed a lot of staff to do all of the work today and I'm incredibly proud of what we achieved', NSW Police Commissioner Andrew Scipione told a press conference in Sydney this morning.
Federal Immigration Minister Scott Morrison has told Sky News 'the government has been looking at this now for a very long period of time and obviously we've been taking the steps necessary to respond to the threat that is there.'
Separately, in one part of Sydney, death threats were shouted from a car bearing a flag of Islamic State militants near a church, Australia's Sydney Morning Herald reported.
A local priest was quoted as saying the people in the vehicle threatened to "kill the Christians".
Australia's outgoing spy chief David Irvine last week raised the terror alert level from medium to high amid growing fears about the prosect of terror attack on home soil.
Last week, Brisbane man Omar Succarieh, 31, was arrested and charged with terrorism-related offences following a series of raids.
He's accused of fundraising for Syria-based extremist group Jabhat al-Nusra and helping another man, Agim Kruezi, obtain funds to fight for a terror organisation overseas.
Succarieh, who is due to apply for bail in court on Thursday, is believed to be the brother of Ahmed Succarieh, who reportedly became Australia's first suicide bomber in Syria last year.
Logan man Kruezi, 22, has alleged links to the Islamic State group.
The raids on Thursday also come a day after a Sydney-based money transfer business owned by the sister and brother-in-law of convicted Sydney terrorist Khaled Sharrouf was shut down amid concerns it was being used to funnel funds to the Middle East to finance terrorism.
The Lakemba remittance provider, Bisotel Rieh Pty Ltd, owned by Damour Sharrouf and her husband Ahmed Alwash, was suspended after they could not account for millions of dollars transferred to Turkey and Lebanon.
There are about 60 Australians believed to be fighting in Iraq and Syria with groups such as Islamic State, while another 100 are suspected of providing support from Australia.
Officials are worried about the impact of both returning fighters and supporters of these groups on domestic security.
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