Police in Australia examine conspiracy theories behind shooting deaths of two officers and four others

To flush Brough out, the Trains lit a fire. Brough, who had only been a police officer for eight weeks, kept still, moving only to use her phone. She texted information to colleagues about the shooters and told loved ones that she thought she was going to die.

The fire was noticed by a neighbour, Alan Dare, who came to investigate. He was also shot and killed. Locals say he and his wife were well known in the nearby town of Tara, where the two slain officers were stationed.

About six hours later, after heavily armed specialist police arrived at the scene from Brisbane, the Trains were shot dead.

The chaos in this remote part of Australia was at an end, but police will spend weeks investigating why the Trains committed the attack and whether the officers could have known they were walking into a trap.

The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, said that all Australians were shocked and saddened by the tragic loss of life.

The founder of the website did not respond to a request for comment.

Nathaniel Train lived a much more conventional life until last year. He had carved out a career as a teacher, becoming a school principal and winning accolades for his approach to working in tough areas of north Queensland.

The Train brothers were raised by their father, a Christian pastor, and mother, who died about six years ago.

It is unclear what involvement Stacey had in the shooting, but Carroll said all three were suspects. Police sources also say that Gareth and Nathaniel were wearing camouflage gear and ambushed the arriving police officers.

But paranoia is knotted through each of his posts: he was convinced that governments ran re-education camps, that vaccines were part of a government conspiracy, and that he was under surveillance by authorities. Gareth was convinced that spam phone calls were covert monitoring, that drones and surveillance aircraft were being flown over his Wieambilla property.

Carroll said the online presence of the Trains, going back years, would form part of the police investigation.

Police will also investigate if the call for officers to come to the house was part of a plan. Carroll did not comment about whether any of the suspects had previously been known to police.