The primary negotiator whose job it was to try to bring a peaceful resolution to the Sydney siege says he felt let down by police commanders who failed to pass on crucial information that may have helped gain leverage with Man Haron Monis.
The senior sergeant, identified only as "Peter", had just five hours sleep after a busy shift before returning to work at 7am on the day of the siege.
As the primary negotiator, he had been speaking directly with hostages who were conveying demands from Monis, which in turn were passed on to senior commanders.
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Among Monis' list of demands was for some Christmas lights in Martin Place to be switched off.
"If we did get permission to have the lights turned off we would use that then as a bargaining tool to say 'We've done something for you, what about something back in regards to releasing the hostages?'" he told the inquest on Tuesday.
Peter said he "discarded" the option of turning off the lights because he never heard back from commanders in charge of the overall NSW Police siege response.
Michael O'Connell SC, counsel for the family of deceased hostage Katrina Dawson, later asked the officer: "Does it not make you feel let down now to know that you could have had more and that it could have been a very viable hook to negotiate with Monis?"
Peter replied: "Yes, sir."
The negotiation team also was never told that a demand from Monis for the ABC to broadcast that Australia was under attack by Islamic State had effectively been realised after a Facebook post from one of the hostages was read out on radio station 2GB.
The officer was also questioned on Tuesday about whether he was too focused on attempting to establish direct communications with Monis, and at times lacked empathy for what the hostages were going through.
"I find that ... it's not what you say, it's how you say it," he said in response to a question from Mr O'Connell.
"There was a lot more to it, and I can only imagine what they were going through. I'm more concerned about the welfare and the safety of those people."
He said he agreed with the assessment from a hostage negotiation expert - Dr Andrew Brown - that by reassuring the hostages, negotiators may have been able to prevent them "feeling desperate and taking their lives into their own hands", and would also have helped enable "intelligence to be gathered more effectively".
But he added that by having "contact and communication, we were still there and that was ... a lifeline ... still some contact with the outside world".
Monis was killed when police stormed the building after he executed cafe manager Tori Johnson.
Ms Dawson was also killed, when she was hit by a police bullet.
The inquest continues.
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