Kiwis tell of post-siege relief

Flower tributes have been left all over Martin Place in Sydney.

A Whangarei woman working two blocks away from a Sydney cafe where two hostages were killed in a standoff is relieved the siege has ended and hopes it never happens again.

Elsa Hunt of Whangarei Heads described Central Sydney as a "ghost town" after work on Monday as most shops, including big chains such as Starbucks, which usually opened until late at night, were closed.

Two hostages and gunman Haron Monis - a self-styled cleric - were killed in the 16-hour standoff that ended in gunfire early yesterday.

There were 17 confirmed hostages, including five that fled on Monday.

"Things have got relatively back to normal, but a lot of streets are still closed and people are laying flowers as close as possible to Martin Place," said Ms Hunt, who works as an office manager for a digital marketing company.

She said people were definitely talking about the incident and were relieved it was all over although they were gutted at the way it ended.

Ms Hunt had to walk some distance from her work to catch a train home on Monday and her usual route to and from work, which included walking past the Lindt Cafe where the incident happened, has changed.

"It's really sad people were injured and killed, but it's also obviously quite a relief that it's all over and hopefully it won't happen again.

"Throughout the whole drama, I thought it was someone who was quite passionate at what was going on overseas. It's sad he (Monis) had to do something like this to get attention."

Former Whangarei woman, Chiquita Tamatoa, was working in the city's exclusion zone when the drama started on Monday. "I didn't see much because we were on lockdown."

Going back to work yesterday she said it appeared people had tried to carry on as normal. "We are all sad about the loss of two hostages but are relieved for those that have escaped.

"I knew for myself and my colleagues we have all come together to ensure everyone is doing okay but as we all have a job to do we are keeping ourselves as busy as possible.

"It's a sad day for New South Wales but like the Premier and (Prime Minister) Tony Abbott says, we encourage peace, freedom of democracy and the right to live our lives without fear."