ANALYSIS

It is almost impossible to guard against malevolent intent and evil imagination.

Police near the siege site in Martin Place, Sydney. Photo: Daniel Munoz

The fears immediately sparked by this siege are precisely the goal of terrorists.

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Confusion. Surprise. Anxiety. Trepidation.

It takes the everyday experience – a visit to a cafe – and turns it into a moment of inexplicable horror.

It may be a man acting alone, making it so much harder for authorities to have detected his planning.

But there will be concerns this siege might be the beginning of a cascade of similar attacks either in Sydney or other cities designed to magnify the impact – that this is a distraction to keep attention from elsewhere.

The usual fear is of a terrorist attack on a high-profile event, such as a football final, or a target such as Parliament.

But what this siege already shows is that a person who is determined to carry out a crime will find a way.

The rampages on the streets of Mumbai in 2008 and in a Nairobi shopping mall in 2013 made for deadly innovations on past terrorist attacks.

The 2004 Beslan school siege in Russia lasted days, an orchestrated drama designed to capture attention as much as cause carnage.

Nothing indicates as yet this attack will be of such terrible scale, but that is hardly a comfort.

We don't know much yet. It may be that this attack has been inspired directly by Islamic State and its vicious entreaties to attack the West, or merely a crazed individual with a demented bent on destruction.

Martin Bryant and Julian Knight are names Australians wish they had never heard.

Hopefully there will not be another to mournfully remember.