A minute's silence has been held for the two victims of the Sydney cafe siege by a parliamentary committee scrutinising national security laws.
Senior officials from the Australian Federal Police and ASIO are appearing before a national security committee to face questions over the government's proposed metadata retention laws.
But before the hearing began, the committee and witnesses stood for a minute's silence in memory of the hostages killed on Tuesday morning.
Committee chair Dan Tehan described the Lindt cafe siege as a "despicable attack on Australians at home".
"Tragically, two innocent people have lost their lives - Katrina Dawson and Tori Johnson," Mr Tehan said.
"The impact on their families and their friends will be deep and ever lasting. Our thoughts are with them."
When the hearing got underway, ASIO deputy director-general Kerri Hartland said her agency was working with NSW and federal police to investigate the siege.
"I would like to reflect publicly our thoughts are with the victims of this horrendous act," she said.
Ms Hartland said terrorist attacks against Australia were "not hypothetical".
"Australia is a terrorist target and recent events have once again demonstrated that Australia is not immune from acts of terror," she said.
Australian Federal Police commissioner Andrew Colvin said the siege showed the complex environment in which police now worked.
He also expressed his condolences to the victims and their families and thanked the NSW and federal police for their work in dealing with the siege.
Mr Colvin said he would be limited in what he could tell the committee about the matter as there were critical incident and criminal investigations under way.
"We will need to be circumspect," he said.
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