Two men arrested in Sydney on terror charges wanted to inspire other "soldiers of the caliphate" in Australia to carry out more attacks, vowing in a video to stab the kidneys and necks of enemies of Islamic State.
In a chilling declaration akin to a martyrdom video, one of the accused is seen kneeling before an Islamic State flag, holding a knife, with a machete on the ground in front of him, vowing to carry out "the first operation" in Australia.
Omar Al-Kutobi, 24, and Mohammad Kiad, 25, were allegedly set to carry out their plan on Tuesday, but were thwarted at the 11th-hour when police raided their western Sydney home.
Neither of the men appeared in court on Thursday, but their lawyer Deone Provera said a bail application would be made at a later date.
Further details of their alleged declaration were revealed on Thursday, with Prime Minister Tony Abbott providing a graphic description of what he described as "monstrous extremism".
The prime minister was shown the video during a briefing with counter-terrorism officials in Canberra on Thursday morning.
"Kneeling before the death cult flag with a knife in his hand and a machete before him one of those arrested said this: `I swear to almighty Allah, we will carry out the first operation for the soldiers of the caliphate in Australia'," Mr Abbott told parliament.
The man went on to say: "I swear to almighty Allah, blond people, there is no room for blame between you and us. We only are you, stabbing the kidneys and striking the necks."
The video is likely to be used by prosecutors to fight an expected bail application, to be heard at Central Local Court in Sydney on March 16.
Mr Abbott said he didn't think it would be possible to witness "more monstrous fanaticism and extremism than this", adding however, that "it is now present in our country".
The comments came as further details also emerged of how the two men came to be in Australia, prompting Immigration Minister Peter Dutton to order an urgent review.
Al-Kutobi, from Iraq, is believed to have arrived in Australia in 2009 using another person's passport, and was given a protection visa before being granted citizenship in 2013.
Kiad entered Australia in 2012.
Mr Dutton said he had been advised one of the suspects might have flown to Australia with false documentation in 2009.
He said there were about 50,000 people who also arrived on boats around that time, hampering intelligence agencies' ability to check every person thoroughly.
Al-Kutobi, however, arrived by plane.
"If the system is being overwhelmed by tens of thousands of people coming by boat, it doesn't matter if they come by boat or plane, it's pretty hard for the security agencies to conduct the thorough searches they need to conduct," Mr Dutton said on Thursday.
There are dozens of Australians in Syria and Iraq fighting with Islamic State.
But Defence officials said on Thursday that the terror group's march in Iraq had been halted, prompting Islamic State - also known as Daesh - to throw raw recruits into the battlefront.
Chief of Joint Operations Vice Admiral David Johnston said Daesh was losing its fighting capability and effectiveness and was increasingly turning to home-made bombs and suicide bombers.
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