When two paramedics arrived just minutes after the Parramatta shooting of Curtis Cheng they found a large crowd of police in bullet proof vests, guns drawn, with a man and a teenage boy on the ground with bullet wounds.
"Mate, are we safe?", one of the ambos asked a police officer.
"I have no idea," was the reply.
The two ambulance officers tried to save the pair despite the fear of further attacks, but Mr Cheng and the 15-year-old killer could not be revived.
The officers - Kevin McSweeney and Andrew McAlpine - have been recognised for their bravery on Friday by receiving an ambulance courage award.
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The pair is among 470 paramedics and staff who have been recognised for their bravery at the NSW Ambulance graduation ceremony.
Inspector McSweeney said the experience of that day, October 2, 2015, will stay with him.
"It's not a scene I will forget," he said in a statement.
"It was a tragic day for every single person involved, from the young guy who did something stupid for whatever cause he believed in, to the police officers and paramedics, and the victim's family."
His colleagues Dean Coldicott and Jason Skybinsky also received the commendation for entering the scene shortly after and checking the obviously distressed police officers involved in the shooting.
In the city's innerwest, nine paramedics from Drummoyne have also been recognised for their bravery after they raced to a September 2014 call in Rozelle and dodged falling walls and fires to save people.
Amy Gardner was one of the first paramedics on the scene of the explosion, which shattered every window within two blocks and engulfed Darling Street shops.
She was led to a man buried in rubble up to his chest at the back of the building while the yard was on fire.
Ms Gardner started digging him out with her bare hands as the situation became increasingly desperate.
"The area was quite unstable - while the roof had been blown off, rubble was falling from the surrounding walls," she said.
"Plus at that stage the electricity was still on. We had to evacuate twice while the patient was still trapped," she said.
"I was pretty frightened inside, but tried to maintain my professionalism. We eventually got the patient out and took him to hospital."
Adeel Ahmad Khan has since been sentenced to a minimum of 30 years in jail over the murder of Chris Noble, 27, and the manslaughter of 31-year-old Bianka O'Brien and her 11-month-old son Jude, who all died in the explosion and flames that tore through his convenience store.
