Bloody End To Sydney Siege: Two hostages dead and Muslim gunman killed as police storm Sydney cafe with assault rifles and stun grenades moments after hostages fled

Two people died, along with an Islamist gunman, after commandos stormed a cafe in Sydney, Australia, to bring to an end a 16-hour siege.

A 34-year-old man and a woman aged 38 were pronounced dead after being taken to hospital, as was the gunman, the New South Wales police force said in a statement.

Four people were injured, including a policeman hit by shotgun pellets. Two women suffered non-life threatening injuries as did a policeman who had been hit in the face by pellets.

Another woman suffered a gunshot wound to her shoulder.

Central Sydney was put in lockdown when the gunman seized the hostages early on Monday, forcing some of them to hold up a black Islamic banner at the window of the Lindt cafe.

The Lindt Chocolat Cafe is located in Martin Place, a busy shopping area in Sydney's financial district.

The gunman was named as Man Haron Monis. He received political asylum in Australia in 1996 and was on bail facing a number of charges.

    Monis was well known to the Australian police

Prime Minister Tony Abbott said in a tweet: "Our thoughts and prayers are with the families of the two deceased hostages, the wounded and the other hostages."

New South Wales state police commissioner Andrew Scipione said it had been an "isolated incident".

Seventeen hostages were accounted for, including those who had managed to escape earlier, he said.

Local media reports suggest the commandos from the Royal Australian Regiment entered the building after the gunman started firing shots.

Commissioner Scipione urged people not to "speculate" about what had happened inside the cafe and said police believed more lives could have been lost if officers had not entered the cafe at that point.