Dominica Biscotta lost her son to SuperMax prison three years ago. Yesterday, a judge ruled that is where he will remain for at least the next decade. Her son, Sulayman Khalid, the frightening new face of religious extremism.

So how did this suburban, Aussie teenager end up on a martyrdom mission for the fanatical Islamic State?

In an exclusive interview with 9News, Ms Biscotta says she carries the burden of guilt and that she tried to seek help, but his troubling transformation was "swept under the rug".

"The most important thing for me is that I want Sulayman to know that I love him very much, I'm sorry if I wasn't there for him. Because that's how I feel, I do feel some sort of guilt," she said.

Khalid, the unofficial leader of a terror plot targeting government AFP Headquarters and Lithgow jail in country New South Wales, was sentenced to a maximum jail term of more than 22 years yesterday.

Khalid's mother says she noticed a change in her son when he began frequenting a book shop in Bankstown. (9NEWS)

He was among six co-conspirators who pleaded guilty to offences committed in 2014.

"He was just a normal beautiful young boy, very happy," Ms Biscotta said.

Born in Australia to Iraqi and Italian parents and raised in Regents Park, in Sydney's west, Khalid loved helping in the kitchen with the cooking, his mother said. One of six children, including a female twin, he experienced a fairly typical upbringing.

"Sulayman was just a very beautiful attentive boy," Ms Biscotta said.

Khalid in a school photograph.

"He felt for humanity he felt for people's rights. He was trying to help the homeless."

Khalid left to study under a sheikh in Egypt when he was 17 but had to return to Australia temporarily because he fell ill.

On his return, ASIO cancelled his passport and provided no explanation or avenue for appeal, thereby "crushing his dream" to return to Egypt.

With a small group of friends he shared his budding interest in global affairs, but Khalid was spiraling. And his thoughts were taking a darker - more politically radical - turn.

Ms Biscotta said she could feel her son being "led".

Sulayman Khalid appeared on SBS' program Insight.

"There was a place in Bankstown, and once he started to go there, I'm not going to lie, I did realise a change," she said.

Exactly when and who began leading Khalid down a dark path are unclear. What we do know is that the teenager began frequenting a tiny prayer room located at the back of an unassuming bookshop in Bankstown, which has since closed its doors.

"I actually did speak to a few people amongst the community and I said I've noticed such and such. Sort of not a closeness any more, sort of a distance. And unfortunately those people turned around to me and said oh its just adolescence and brushed it off. And I'm sure they know who they are. And I wish they would have taken more steps because we wouldn't be where we are now."

"There has to be a change. Having one son taken away from you on a charge of terrorism, if we're going to be frank, is not an easy thing. That's a pretty heavy thing to digest, you know what I mean. It's very intense, and it's very traumatic to have your son taken away from you and put in handcuffs."

In December 2014, their Regents Park home was raided and several pages of handwritten notes were seized, containing loose, partially-formed plans to attack an Australian Federal Police building in Sydney, among others.

Police also found clothing bearing IS markings and a series of printed A4 sheets which, when placed together, formed an almost complete IS banner. It was around this same time that Australia's terrorism alert was raised to high.

When her son was arrested, Ms Biscotta said she turned to the local Muslim community for support.

"It's very shocking. Because when you're going through such a traumatic experience and trying to work through it, you'd at least expect support from the community that your with. But no none at all no support," she said.

"There definitely needs to be change, there has to be a place for people to go, for parents to go. If there're worried or concerned.

"I want the Muslim community to stand up. Get a good program set up for the de-radicalisation. Get psychologists involved. It has to be very structured, so that it doesn't keep happening, and our youth don't end up in SuperMax."

What little light Khalid has in futures now revolves around strict non-contact visits from five Corrective Services-approved family members.

His co-offenders face similar futures.

Jibryl Almaouie received a total sentence of 18 years and 10 months, with a minimum term of 14 years and two months.

Mohamed Almaouie and Farhad Said received minimum terms of six years and nine months, and seven years and one month respectively.

Ibrahim Ghazzawy previously received a minimum term of six years and four months jail for his involvement.

And a teenager, whom cannot be identified, was sentenced to 13-and-a-half years, with a minimum 10 years and one month.

Contrition or regret did not seem at the forefront of Khalid's mind on the day of his sentence, however.

At one point, he lifted his hand in an Islamic State salute. And this is where the small story of the "Khalid group" joins the large story of the War on Terror.

"There has to be a rehabilitation. Two wrongs don't make a right," Ms Biscotta said.