Leichhardt Local Area Command Inspector Gary Coffey says the "very traumatic incident" had taken an emotional toll on his officers.
"This is certainly the worst tragedy that I've had to deal with," he told reporters on Sunday.
"It's a very difficult time for the police, particularly for the young police involved in this matter."
Investigations into the explosion and subsequent inferno that destroyed a convenience store and adjacent units early on Thursday morning are continuing.
The bodies of Bianka O'Brien and her baby boy Jude were recovered from the charred remains of the Darling Street building on Friday.
The grim find followed the retrieval of 27-year-old Chris Noble's body from the wreckage on Thursday night.
The Rozelle crime scene in the city's inner west remains in place on Saturday.
A large stretch of the street has remained closed since Thursday as emergency services worked meticulously to remove bricks from unstable walls at the site.
Insp Coffey said the exclusion zone around the wreckage site would soon be reduced to allow local businesses to reopen.
Police will host a public meeting on Sunday at 10am at Balmain Town Hall to update the public on the exclusion zone and the asbestos risk, which Insp Coffey says remains "very low".
Reports of a car fleeing the area after the explosion are being investigated.
Police have reportedly visited the owner of the convenience store Adeel Khan, who is in a serious condition in hospital after emergency services dug him out of the debris.
On Friday police said Mr Khan was not being treated as a suspect.
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