A knife attacker killed six people and injured several others in a stabbing spree at a Sydney shopping centre before being shot dead by police.

Four women and a man died in the shopping centre and another woman later died in hospital, police said.

Here’s what we know so far:

– Police said the 40-year-old suspect entered the Westfield shopping centre at Bondi Junction at around 3.10pm local time (6.10am UK time) and then left “very shortly after” before returning at about 3.20pm

– The man stabbed shoppers as he moved through the shopping centre – including a mother and her nine-month-old baby

– Video footage appears to show a shopper confronting the attacker on an escalator in the centre by holding a bollard towards him

– Emergency services were called to Westfield Bondi Junction at around 3.30pm, following reports that multiple people had been stabbed

– A female police officer who was nearby went into the centre alone and approached the attacker who had by this point moved to level five of the shopping centre

Australia Stabbing
People are led out from the Westfield Shopping Centre where multiple people were stabbed (Rick Rycroft/AP)

– The officer shot the attacker after he turned to face her, raised a knife and lunged at her

– The officer conducted CPR on the attacker until the arrival of paramedics, who worked on the man; however, he could not be revived

– New South Wales Ambulance sent 40 resources to the scene including four medical teams

– At a press conference, New South Wales Police Commissioner Karen Webb said the knifeman was a 40-year-old man known to law enforcement and his attack was not thought to be terror-related

– Four women and a man died in the shopping centre and another woman later died in hospital, police confirmed

– A nine-month-old baby has undergone surgery and eight people, including the child, are in hospitals around Sydney receiving treatment for different injuries

– Reports in the Australian media have suggested that the woman who died in hospital is the baby’s mother.