Sydney siege: Darkness descends in the city

5.30pm in Sydney: The normally busy Eastern Suburbs train line that ferries office-goers home is strangely empty. A somber announcement confirms the train will not be halting at Martin Place, one of the busiest stops in Sydney’s Central Business District, because of a "police incident". The train pulls into nearby Town Hall station only to be greeted by even more eerie calm. The popular Queen Victoria Building that houses the Town Hall interchange is marked by closed shops and deserted cafes… a sight normally associated only with wee hours of the weekend.

The café siege that had begun shortly before 10am was still underway. As public heaved sighs of relief for the five hostages who managed to escape, concerns began to mount for the 15 who were left behind. For sometime now, there have been nervous murmurs among locals of an impending ISIS-style terror attack in Sydney, with Martin Place being identified as the preferred stage for such an attack. Even so, the trendy Lindt café in the middle of the holiday season was perhaps the least expected setting.

December is Sydney’s star month. It is when the world descends on the city to experience its two top draws - its glorious beaches basking in the vernal summer and the iconic New Year’s Eve firework displays. Today, December 15, was slated to be a particularly busy day. Being the last week before the start of the school summer holidays, the city would’ve been choc a bloc with locals doing a spot of Christmas shopping before the foreign tourists arrived. More so, as weeks of stormy weather had finally given way to a fine Sydney day.

Though terror attacks of this kind are completely alien to the city and its people, the overall response has been remarkably measured and localised.

Sure, buildings have been evacuated and shops have downed their shutters, but even in offices a mere 100m away from the café, it was business as usual, with people working full days. The transport network too was up and running after being suspended for just a couple of hours.

However, even as Sydneysiders went about their daily business, confident in the knowledge that the authorities concerned were working relentlessly to resolve the crisis, there was the sad realisation that their beloved city may not be any safer than elsewhere in the Western world.

As darkness descends on Sydney and residents continue to follow the goings-on in Martin Place, for a city that prides itself on its sophisticated café culture, it would indeed be a bitter pill to swallow that something as innocuous as meeting up for a coffee could have such unpleasant consequences.