A woman is barricaded inside a Melbourne home with a dangerous career criminal but police say she is not considered to be a hostage.
Christopher Dean Binse, who calls himself "Badness", has been locked inside the home with the woman believed to be his girlfriend since yesterday morning, while continuing to fire shots at police outside.
Acting Superintendent Stephen Mutton says the woman is comfortable and not scared as a team of negotiators attempts to convince the couple to walk out peacefully.
"He is aware he's wanted for serious firearm offences and we want him to surrender safely," he told reporters.
But the 43-year-old's behaviour has been erratic, with shots being fired at police during the night and again from the back of the Keilor East property just after 10am (local time) today, passing through two fences.
"Our concern is the bullets could have hit a car," Acting Supt Mutton said.
"That type of behaviour we've got to stop, to prevent putting any members of the public in danger."
Road closures are now preventing anyone from getting near the home, with residents forced to evacuate to a nearby community centre.
Police will not discuss how they are communicating with Binse but say contact has been occurring at regular intervals since this morning.
Officers have no plans to escalate their strategy.
"We're just going to continue on with this tactic until we can resolve it," Acting Supt Mutton said.
Binse has fired a total of 12 shots at police since the stand-off began at the Sterling Drive home at 7.30am (local time) yesterday.
Police aren't sure how many firearms he may have, and with his past criminal history, detectives are not taking any risks.
Those who know Binse, however, are hopeful the siege will not end in bloodshed.
"I'm very hopeful that he'll come out peacefully," said former prison chaplain Peter Norden, who worked with Binse in jail and who has been in contact with police during the stand-off.
"He does have a troubled past, but from what I know he's going through a personal crisis at the moment," Mr Norden said.
"Every one of us has these moments in our lives, but perhaps our response to these things is not as extreme as his."
Binse has been jailed previously for armed robbery.
He has also been outspoken about prison issues over the years, protesting about conditions and staging a hunger strike.
He has complained of inadequate rehabilitation programmes to prepare inmates for reintegration into society.
The incident began on Sunday night when detectives checked the registration of a motorcycle outside La Porchetta restaurant on Keilor Road in nearby Niddrie.
A man walked out of the restaurant, noticed the officers, and headed back inside.
But when detectives followed, the man pointed a gun and fled with a dropped police radio out the back of the restaurant.
The next morning, six shots were fired at police when they tried to arrest Binse at his girlfriend's home.
