NSW Health chief psychiatrist Dr Murray Wright said the Sydney siege community response is a natural instinct that should be felt.
"When seeing something like this we feel first shock that it’s happening in our city," Dr Wright told SBS.
"Then fear ... then an outpouring of sympathy of those affected and that’s when it becomes a positive thing."
"What we’ve seen in Sydney in the last couple of days has been a very positive drawing together from community support at all levels from people in the streets to our leadership figures … it helps everyone recover from the incident."
Dr Wright said the timing of the siege came at a climate of fear which has influenced the reaction of people in Sydney and across the country.
"In my experience I haven’t seen anything like this, it’s come at a time when were increasingly concerned about these events. I also think it’s about Australians looking after our own and we are proud of our traditions and support of each other."
Dr Judy Hyde Director President Australian Clinical Psychology Association told SBS that perpetrators of such acts aim to divide the community but Sydney’s reaction has proven the opposite.
"What actually happens is it draws the community together, it get us in touch with our values, with our beliefs with people we love and things we love and hold dear to us and helps us share these things with the community and it makes us richer," she said.
"I’m really proud of Australians and how the way they’ve managed this," Dr Judy said.
"You see all those people down there recognising the problems that this creating for those involved and they want to support them and that will sustain them.”
A makeshift shrine began building on Tuesday after a Sydney-sider placed flowers just outside the lindt café, to remember the two victims Lindt café manager, Tori Johnson and lawyer and mother of three Katrina Dawson., who were shot and killed during the siege.
In a statement to the media, Premiere Mike Baird said, “This city has been shaken by a tragedy that none of us could have ever imagined. The values we held dear yesterday we hold dear today. They are the values of freedom, democracy, and harmony. These defined us yesterday, they will define us today, they will define us tomorrow.”
Sydney florist George Luckerdis said the outpouring of support was overwhelming.
“It’s unbelievable it’s never happened like this before … we are very compassionate group of people. The last two days we’ve been selling out, I’ve had to go to the markets twice.
A memorial was also held at St Andrews' Cathedral in Sydney and attended by the families of survivors and police.
Anglican Archbishop of Sydney, Glenn Davies, said the country was united in its grief.
"It has bonded the city together in a new way. It has challenged us to say, 'what is important about life?'"
Premiere Baird said a permanent memorial will be established at an appropriate time.
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