The discussion heard from supporters of both the government of President Bashar al-Assad, and of the rebels fighting to overthrow him.
Tempers frayed at times during the forum, with participants urged not to allow the conflict to affect their lives in Australia.
(Transcript from SBS World News Australia Radio)
"I'm here to say, what the real Syrian people want is peace, they want to live, want to save their children, they don't want to be refugees," pleaded an unnamed participant at the SBS Insight Forum on Syria.
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The debate became so heated it was temporarily paused whilst audience members calmed down.
People siding with the Syrian President Bashar al-Assad sat side-by-side with others who told the audience they've lost family members to government attacks.
Likewise, government supporters told of beheadings at the hands of rebels.
Yousef Hariri said he left Syria just weeks before the uprising began in March last year and has one brother who's been jailed by the government, and another who's been murdered.
"My eldest brother, he died a couple of months ago. He was kidnapped, then given four bullets in the head. Left in the woods. We were shocked. He's got four boys."
Several people shared similar stories of witnessing and being told of brutality and murder by government forces.
Hanadi Assoud from the pro-Assad group Hands off Syria accused rebel groups of terrorism and says her family members in Syria say they're the victims of rebel attacks because they're Christians.
"I know a lot of people. We have Christians here. They can tell you their stories as well. They have families that have been killed. We have people that have been beheaded, and this is their slogan: 'If you're not with us, you are to be beheaded."
Towards the end of the program it seemed many participants acknowledged that both sides of the conflict are guilty of atrocities.
Saad Barazi, who sides with anti-government forces, said all factions are now caught in a cycle of violence.
"Of course there are atrocities on both sides. But you don't expect one side or the other, when they see atrocities on that side not to behave in a similar way on their side. I mean, come on. Two wrongs don't make it right."
Roger Shanahan from the Lowy Institute think tank told the audience the Syrian conflict is now irrevocably intertwined in a broader regional and sectarian struggle.
And he said the uprising has developed into one of the most complex in modern times.
"Because it has every intractable element that you would not want in a conflict, if you wanted to resolve that conflict. You can just even see that in here. Hearsay becomes fact, conspiracy theories abound. 'My cousin told me this.' That becomes the fact, so I'm going to react in that way."
NSW Deputy Police Commissioner Nick Kaldas told the audience all must be done to prevent the sectarian violence in Syria from spreading into Syrian communities in Australia.
"I am an Arab. I was born and brought up in Egypt. I've lived 30 years and the police here. I'm proud of my Egyptian background but I'm even more proud of being Australian. And that's what everyone has to keep in mind here. We cannot jeopardise the paradise we have here because of what's happening somewhere else in the world."
