The Australian bush has served as a hiding place for fugitives from the law for centuries, as police search high and low for a "modern-day Ned Kelly" accused of killing two officers in cold blood.
Dezi Freeman has sparked a massive manhunt after allegedly shooting dead detective leading senior constable Neal Thompson and senior constable Vadim De Waart.
He was last seen fleeing into dense bushland on Tuesday morning after the officers and eight others attempted to serve a search warrant at a Porepunkah property in Victoria's high country.
The dangerous and complex bush terrain is hampering search efforts, police admit.
The 56-year-old suspect, considered to be potentially armed, knows the "bush like the back of his hand" and is a "modern-day Ned Kelly", locals have told AAP.
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Kelly and other bushrangers operated in rural areas in the late 18th and 19th centuries, hiding and escaping into the bush after committing crimes.
In more modern times, accused murderers have deployed the same tactic to evade the law.
Malcolm Naden
Malcolm Naden was on the run for seven years after neighbour Kristy Scholes was discovered strangled in the bedroom of her grandparents' house in Dubbo, western NSW, in June 2005.
Her cousin Lateesha Nolan, also 24, had gone missing in January that year, with the mother of four's bones found in 2016.
Naden broke into several properties between 2005 and 2012 while he was hiding out in the bush, stealing thousands of items of food and clothing, as well as several weapons.
In 2016, police confirmed that a bone found near a Dubbo river belonged to Lateesha Nolan. Source: AAP / Vision Communicators / Brian Harvey
A reward of $50,000 for information leading to Naden's capture rose to $250,000 by the time he was finally arrested in 2012 on private property near Gloucester, in mid-north NSW.
The former shearer and abattoir worker was sentenced to life in prison after pleading guilty to the 2005 murders.
Gino and Mark Stocco
Former father-and-son fugitives Gino and Mark Stocco spent eight years on the run from police for property offences and other crimes.
They opened fire on highway patrol officers to avoid arrest near Wagga Wagga, south-west NSW, sparking a major manhunt in October 2015.
The pair were tracked to an Elong Elong property in central west NSW and arrested by heavily armed officers.
Gino Stocco and his son Mark were arrested in Dunedoo in north-west NSW on 28 October 2015. Source: AAP / David Moir
Gino later told a psychiatrist he and his son began an itinerant life working on farms after a bitter separation from his wife and the pair's jailing for burglary.
He said he was "relieved it's all over" before the father and son were sentenced to respective 40-year jail terms.
James D'Zilva
James D'Zilva repeatedly eluded police in the Yarra Ranges bushland to Melbourne's east after stabbing senior constable Chris Bullen at a service station in the town of Healesville on 7 December 2010.
One officer said the dreadlocked, barefoot bushman had the speed and endurance to run at the Olympics.
D'Zilva was eventually picked up by police in the inner Melbourne suburb of Richmond on 5 January 2011.
Police said D'Zilva, who had schizophrenia and was ultimately sentenced to 604 days in jail, appeared to make occasional forays into the city fringe to steal food without any assistance or a permanent camp.
