Westfield Bondi Junction: Multiple deaths after stabbing rampage at Sydney shopping centre

Watch: Australian police hold a standup. Credits: Image - Twitter+ Newshub; Video - Newshub

Six people are dead, along with their attacker, after a stabbing rampage at a Sydney shopping centre on Saturday.

A nine-month-old baby has undergone surgery, with several other people in a serious or critical condition.

7 News reports the sixth victim is the mother of the baby. She was taken to hospital but died from her wounds.

Her child is receiving treatment at Sydney Children's Hospital.

The incident happened at the Westfield Bondi Junction Shopping Centre on Saturday afternoon.

At a police standup on Saturday evening, Police Assistant Commissioner Anthony Cooke said a male walked into Westfield Bondi Junction around 3:20pm and "engaged with about nine people".

"It is clear that during that engagement he caused harm to those people we believe by stabbing with a weapon he was carrying," he said.

Police say the man fatally stabbed six people in the centre.

A police officer confronted the man, who raised a knife and allegedly lunged at the officer.

"She discharged a firearm, and that person is now deceased," he added.

Asst Cmmr Cooke said it appeared the person acted alone and there is no longer any threat.

In a later update, NSW Police Commissioner Karen Webb said the attacker has been provisionally identified as a 40-year-old man known to police. They don't believe it was a terror attack.

According to local media, eyewitnesses say a man was chasing and stabbing people before he was shot by police.

Footage from the scene shows multiple people on the ground with blood on their clothes. One was receiving CPR.

Other footage posted to social media appears to show a dead body.

A young witness told the Daily Mail Australia she heard gunshots and "blood-curdling" screams.

"We are absolutely terrified," she said.

One man told 9News a baby and its mother were stabbed.

"I just helped out, just holding the baby and trying to compress the blood from stopping and calling ambulance and police," he said.

"There was a lot of blood on the floor."

"Something just went down at Westfields Bondi junction," one witness posted to X.

"We were up there and all of a sudden all these people running towards us. Next thing dozens and dozens of people all running a screaming some bloke yells someone is stabbing everyone get out of here'."

Another X user said there were hundreds of shoppers hiding in the back of a department store.

"A police operation is currently underway at Westfield Bondi Junction," Waverley Council said in a tweet.

"The centre is locked down amid reports of multiple stabbings."

Dozens of emergency service crews - including the police tactical operations unit - are currently on the scene.