Authorities have started probing into the 16-hour hostage crisis at a Sydney cafe in December that left two victims and the gunman dead.

The coronial inquest, a proceeding in Australia that only happens if there are unusual deaths, aims to reveal how the victims died. It also seeks to determine if the deaths could have been prevented and look into how the police officials managed the crisis.

Like Us on Facebook

Aside from further analysis of the situation, the inquest will also be examining the mental health of gunman Man Horan Monis and what were his motivations behind the attack. Jeremy Gormly, the lawyer assisting the coroner in the case, pointed out that there is no evidence yet to prove that Monis indeed had contact with the ISIS.

Gormly said they are now working on a preliminary rundown of events based on the interpretation of the evidence presented to them. The coroner has yet to make final statements on how the hostages and the gunman died, he added.

"Rarely have such horrifying events unfolded so publicly," Coroner Michael Barnes said of the incident. "Overlaying the intense personal suffering on display were fearsome themes which called up wider and more far-reaching threats that understandably terrified many, even among those who only saw it from afar."

According to the investigation, the first victim was a 38-year-old lawyer identified as Katrina Dawson. She was hit with a police bullet during an exchange of gunfire between the cops and the gunman. 

Tori Johnson, the 34-year-old manager of the café, also died in the incident, said Gormly. Monis forced him to kneel before firing a bullet into his head. The shooting of Johnson is believed to have prompted the police officials to storm the café and the encounter resulted in the gunman's death.

Monis, 50, had a long criminal history, according to The New York Times.

During the standoff in December, he reportedly forced the cafe customers and workers to relay his demands via online videos uploaded on social networking sites. He asked to speak to the country's prime minister and be given a flag of the militant groups Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS).

TagsSydney cafe siege, Man Horan Monis, chocolate cafe siege, Australia, ISIS, investigation