Authorities investigate whether the Queensland Police ambush was planned, as a community mourns.

Tragedy in Australia with two police officers and an innocent bystander killed, in what has been described as a senseless attack.

Investigations are continuing into how exactly this incident unfolded.

Police were attending a routine missing-person inquiry on a remote Queensland property, three hours west of Brisbane.

Ambushed with heavy gunfire as soon as they set foot on the property, it’s now clear they didn’t stand a chance.

The key questions are whether the officers were lured into a trap and whether this whole ordeal was planned from the very start.

Queensland’s Police Commissioner Katarina Carroll says investigators will focus in on the online presence of the attackers.

They were both shot dead following a mammoth six-hour siege.

Graphic body camera footage will be used to piece together how Constables Matthew Arnold and Rachel McCrow, as well as bystander and neighbour, Alan Dare, died.

Thousands moved by lives taken too soon

The attackers were seemingly well-armed. Additionally, the property itself had a security camera system set up to alert them if anyone entered the boundary.

We are broken and hurting, yet buoyed by your overwhelming support. We simply say, thank you.

Thousands have been moved by three lives cruelly taken too soon. We will always remember them. pic.twitter.com/JVaQ52fQhm

— Queensland Police (@QldPolice) December 13, 2022

The Commissioner told the ABC’s 7.30 program police will “get to the bottom” of what happened.

“We’re definitely investigating every avenue. We will investigate what they have been doing not only in recent weeks, but in recent years. Who have they been interacting with, family, friends, their online presence,” the Commissioner said.

“I know that the officer in charge also spoke to them, so they were quite comfortable going out to the property and in fact, from what I understand, quite jovial and having fun with each other. For us, this was a standard job.”

A community and a nation in mourning. Authorities trying to work out exactly what happened and how these two young Constables lost their lives.