Jarrod Morton-Hoffman was one of the first people to turn up to work on the day of the Lindt Cafe siege. Picture: Channel 9/60 Minutes

The 20-year-old cafe worker and hostage told the inquest Mr Johnson looked “scared and nervous”, was hunched over, blinking intensely and was very quiet.

The inquest into the siege, which began when gunman Monis entered the cafe on December 15, 2014 and took 18 people hostage, resumed on Tuesday after breaking for Easter.

Mr Morton-Hoffman said he initially thought the Reserve Bank across the road from the Lindt Cafe was being robbed.

When Monis walked into the cafe there was no hint of the calamity that was about to unfold.

His sawn-off pump action shotgun was hidden in a blue plastic bag and the Islamic flag he would later make terrified hostages hold at the windows was hidden from view.

Like an ordinary customer, he ordered chocolate cake and drank a cup of tea. When he’d finished he asked if he could be moved to another table — one close to the doors that would give him a view of the whole cafe.

When Monis was seated he asked to speak to the store manager. No one was sure why but staff became fearful when the normally calm Mr Johnson became “visibly stressed” as he listened to what Monis was telling him.

“Yes, he looked scared and nervous,” Mr Morton-Hoffman, aged 20, said of Mr Johnson at the inquest this morning. “I would say Tori was taller but more lean. And I would say Monis was a bit shorter and pudgy. I’d say Monis was larger in terms of weight.

“Tori was hunched forward. His facial expression, I noticed from the months working with Tori, sometimes when he’s nervous he blinks a lot, quite an intense blink.

“He was quite quiet. He was kind of devoid of emotion, which said a lot as he’s usually full of emotion so that’s what worried me.”

Jarrod Morton-Hoffman (left) with Joel Herat, who ‘put a knife in his apron pocket’ when he thought something was going on. Picture: Supplied/NineSource:Supplied

Counsel assisting the coroner, Jeremy Gormly SC, then said that, at some point, Mr Johnson signalled for Mr Morton-Hoffman.

“It would have been immediately afterwards,” Mr Morton-Hoffman continued. “He waved for me to come over then called my name. He said ‘Jarrod come over’ (and I did). My entire attention was on Tori Johnson at the time.

“I leant over to speak to Tori, his voice was quite soft. He told me ‘I need you to go and lock the doors, we’re closed, tell the staff everything is OK, we’re safe’. (He was looking at me). (He looked) frightened.

“(I felt) we were in danger. I thought the Reserve Bank across the road was being robbed. I thought potentially (Monis) worked for Chubb because there’d been a large influx of officers that day so I assumed something was going on across the road. (Monis said nothing at this stage).

“Tori said ‘go get the keys and lock the door’.

“I said to Paolo Vassallo (another Lindt worker) ‘something’s wrong, I think we’re in danger, I think the Reserve Bank is being robbed across the street. Joel Herat came and asked me what was wrong and I said the same thing.

“(Joel) put a knife in his apron pocket.”

Hostages run with their hands up from the Lindt Cafe in Martin Place on the day of the siege. Picture: Joosep Martinson/Getty ImagesSource:Getty Images

Mr Morton-Hoffman from Sydney started work at 6.50am for a 7am shift on the day of the siege. He was one of the first staff members in the cafe to open that morning.

He is expected to continue the day detailing what he saw and experienced inside the Lindt Cafe, before fellow survivor Fiona Ma takes to the witness box.

The inquest into the siege, which left hostages Katrina Dawson, Mr Johnson and gunman Man Haron Monis dead, is expected to run for another seven weeks.

During last week’s opening the inquest heard details of what Monis is believed to have said to Mr Johnson, the Lindt Cafe manager, before killing him.

Several of the first officers to arrive at the developing scene also spoke about what they had done and seen in the early moments of the unfolding 16-hour siege.

TRICKS USED TO COMMUNICATE SECRET MESSAGES

A previously unheard recording of a triple-0 call made by Jarrod Morton-Hoffman from the Lindt Cafe to emergency operators has been played at the Sydney siege inquest today.

Mr Morton-Hoffman was tasked with calling authorities to make demands on behalf of Man Haron Monis.

“(I was) scared, (it was) a lot of responsibility, if I screwed up someone would have died,” he said.

Mr Morton-Hoffman told the inquest how he used certain tricks to communicate secret messages to authorities during the phone calls.

He said he tried to emphasis certain words to answer the operator’s questions without the gunman realising.

“I was trying to answer the questions without him knowing,” Mr Morton-Hoffman said.

“(I’d say) ‘no one is hurt’ and emphasis the ‘one’ (when the operator asked how man gunmen were in the building).”

Mr Morton-Hoffman told the inquest he was ordered to make the calls because the gunman and hostages could see an officer with a “riot shield” outside the cafe.

Monis wanted police and all cars within sight, removed from the area.

“I think Monis had just spotted the individual in the corner,” Mr Morton-Hoffman said.

“He freaked out and asked me to call the police and tell them to move back or he was going to shoot someone.

“His tone changed and he changed his gun and pointed it at one of the hostages (a female, but I can’t recall which one).”

The first call he made to emergency operators was about 12.26pm:

Mr Morton-Hoffman: “I’m currently a hostage at Martin Place can you please tell police officers to move immediately. He’s going to shoot someone right now. Can you please tell them to ... go away. Please tell them to go away.”

Emergency operators: “What’s your name?”

Mr Morton-Hoffman: “My name is Jarrod Morton-Hoffman.”

Emergency operators: “How old are you?”

Mr Morton-Hoffman: “19.”

Emergency operators: “Do you work there?”

Mr Morton-Hoffman: “Yes.”

Emergency operators: “I’m talking to police at the moment.”

Mr Morton-Hoffman: “Two minutes or he’ll shoot someone.”

Emergency operators: “How many people are in there with guns?”

Mr Morton-Hoffman: “Sorry I’m just listening to (pause) for a moment. One person. He has not hurt a single person. He has not hurt anyone. He’s talking to me right now, he’s saying to please go away. If the police at the window do not move he’s going to shoot someone.”

Emergency operators: “How big is the gun?”

Mr Morton-Hoffman: “It’s a shotgun.”

Emergency operators: “Is he calm, what’s he like?”

Mr Morton-Hoffman: “Yes, he’s been very good to us. But if you come close he will shoot and explode his bombs.”

Emergency operators: “Can you see any bombs in there?”

Mr Morton-Hoffman: “No but he says he has one. We need someone to cancel the bombs.”

Emergency operators: “What’s he doing now.”

Mr Morton-Hoffman: “He has a gun pointed at the lady and he hasn’t moved. Please tell him to move. I need to go, I’m sorry.”

The second call by Mr Morton-Hoffman to triple-0:

Emergency operators: “What’s happening?”

Mr Morton-Hoffman: “There’s two cars on Phillip Street … one Armaguard truck and one Volkswagen … they’re parked on Phillip St outside Westpac. Any car that is near the window he wants removed.”

Emergency operators: “He wants the vehicles removed, why?”

Mr Morton-Hoffman: “Why do you want the vehicles removed (he asks Monis)?”

Mr Morton-Hoffman: “He just wants them.”

Emergency operators: “That information is being passed on. Has he got anything else he needs to say?”

Mr Morton-Hoffman: “Yes. He keeps his word. He was about to shoot this lady in front of me.”

Louisa Hope (interjects to operator): “He was about to shoot me, then the police moved as he instructed on time, so please do on time. I don’t want to die.”

Hostages run to safety during the cafe siege. Picture: AP Photo/Rob GriffithSource:AAP

‘HE ORDERED US TO CLOSE OUR EYES AND BE SILENT’

Mr Morton-Hoffman told the inquest the hostages “weren’t meant to be speaking”.

“He told us to be silent and (we) were,” he said.

Monis learnt the majority of the hostages names and referred to them by that, according to Mr Morton-Hoffman, with the exception of Mr Johnson who he called “manager”.

Mr Morton-Hoffman also said that everyone was told to put their mobile phones and IDs on a table.

“I put my driver’s licence and my phone, (others) put their phones down,” he said.

Counsel assisting the coroner, Jeremy Gormly SC, then asked whether Monis had said anything about his backpack.

“Yes, he said he had two bombs, he didn’t say where but I assumed they were in his backpack,” Mr Morton-Hoffman said.

“He started moving people around the cafe, and putting some up against the windows and put two in the foyer. He would physically move you, with your eyes closed, to the position. (Yes, he ordered us to close our eyes). I had my eyes closed. He put me at table 10.”

Monis then physically moved Mr Morton-Hoffman, who still had to keep his eyes closed, to the window.

“(He) was firm but I wouldn’t say violent. (He held me) around my bicep.”

Monis gave Mr Morton-Hoffman a flag and told him to hold it to the window. Monis can be seen whispering to Mr Morton-Hoffman in the footage.

“He said I was holding it upside down. (He was bothered by that),” he said.

Jarrod Morton-Hoffman was pictured looking out from the Lindt Cafe during the siege. Picture: Channel SevenSource:Channel 7

THE HOSTAGE MONIS DUBBED ‘HIS SECRETARY’

Mr Morton-Hoffman said he heard hostage Louisa Hope making calls while he was holding the flag at the window.

He said she spent about half-an-hour making calls and Monis referred to her as “his secretary”.

“He wold give demands and she would say them (on the phone). I believe (Louisa) called the police (and media). He repeated the same demands, about having two bombs, that he wanted to tell the bombers to not release their bombs and he had to go on ABC radio because (the ‘brothers’) listen to ABC and he wanted to have a live discussion with Tony Abbott on air.

“I thought he was a lone wolf gunman, I thought he was ISIS-inspired with a political agenda. (I didn’t believe) that he had bombs and brothers across the city. (The gun), I believed that.

Mr Morton-Hoffman said Elly Chen became unwell and started throwing up around table one.

He said he asked Monis if he could help and the gunman allowed it.

“I told her to go into the foetal position and gave her a bag. Then Marcia (Mikhael) took proper care of her,” he said.

“I think she (Robin Hope, Louisa’s elderly mother) wanted to go to the bathroom. (Monis) said ‘wait’. She rather forcefully said ‘no’. He told her to be quiet. She started, kind of yelling back at him a little bit. He said ‘Louisa, tell your mother to shut up’. Louisa told her to stop talking and she kind of did, just grumbled a little bit.

“I feel if someone else had done it, someone younger, like Tori or I, we probably wouldn’t have got off so easy.”

Elly Chen runs from the Lindt Cafe with her hands raised. Picture: AAP Image/Joel CarrettSource:AAP

MONIS TOLD ME TO ‘SIT THE F**K DOWN’

Mr Morton-Hoffman told the inquest he was putting up handwritten “closed” signs under the direction of Mr Johnson, on behalf of Monis, and yet Monis called out to him to stop.

“I said ‘I’ve got to put up the sign’ and he said ‘no you don’t, sit the f**k down’. (I looked at him and he was holding) a shotgun (I hadn’t seen before). (I realised) the danger was inside the cafe and not outside.

“He spoke aggressively (like that throughout the day).”

Mr Morton-Hoffman said, for the first time, he also realised Monis had put on a bandanna, vest and backpack.

Mr Morton-Hoffman said he followed instructions and sat down.