It will await later assessments as to whether the results will amount to more than one man in a court dock charged with plotting unfathomable violence, and a second man facing weapons charges. Omarjan Azari under police guard at Sydney's Central Local Court. Credit:Daniel Munoz It was two hours before sunrise and Omarjan Azari was sound asleep when scores of police descended upon his western Sydney home in Guildford. His home was one of 25 Sydney properties raided by heavily armed police. The frightened 22-year-old was handcuffed on the grass outside his blond-brick home on Bursill Street along with his younger brother in the dark.

Just a few hours later he would sit in a courtroom accused of conspiring to carry out a terrorist attack with one of the world's most wanted terrorists. As the brief proceeding unfolded, it emerged that the bearded youngster was accused of an offence intended to "shock, horrify and terrify the community". Mr Azari was charged with conspiring to plan or prepare a terrorist act with a number of others including Mohammad Ali Baryalei, believed to be the most senior Australian member of Islamic State. This offence carries a maximum sentence of life in jail. As Mr Azari sat in the cells underneath Central Local Court, police continued to rip apart homes across Sydney.

Hovering helicopters, police shouts and door banging woke up hundreds of sleeping residents in the suburbs of Beecroft, Bella Vista, Guildford, Merrylands, Northmead, Wentworthville, Marsfield, Westmead, Castle Hill, Revesby, Bass Hill and Regents Park. Police charged Mr Azari and detained 14 others; nine have been released and two women were issued with court attendance notices. On Thursday night, a 24-year-old Merrylands man was charged with possessing ammunition without a license, and unauthorised possession of a prohibited weapon. He was released on bail, and is due back in court on September 24. One firearm and a sword were sealed in plastic evidence bags and taken away for forensic testing. A large media pack gathered out the front of Mr Azari's Guildford house as police spoke to his relatives and searched an adjoining garage before digging up parts of the front lawn.

A woman named Marie, who lived directly behind, said the family had only moved to the house three weeks ago and were often heard having loud conversations in the backyard late at night. About a 30-minute drive away, more than two dozen police stormed into the Alou family's unit on Lane Street, Wentworthville. Raban Alou said police were targeting his brother Kawa because he hung around a "bunch of hotheads" who were being investigated by the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation. He said police were searching for any material that could link his family to al-Qaeda or Islamic State. "I dunno, I got a lot of anger," he said. "It's a war on Islam just because we grow our beards. They want to label us as a terrorist, or supporters of IS, whatever, that's up to you."

Just around the corner in the neighbouring suburb of Westmead police had also woken up the Dudu family. Tom Dudu, 19, is friends with the Alous and said police had questioned his two brothers, his mother and seized all their phones and laptops. He was not allowed to go into his Bridge Road home, so spent the day driving to the homes of other friends who had also been targeted during the raids. In the north-western suburb of Marsfield, detectives were leaving a home on Booth Street carrying bags of evidence. There appeared to be a large sword in a sheath contained in one bag.

Officers spent about seven hours searching the duplex, including the garage and a gold-coloured Toyota. Riot police and the dog squad were also in attendance earlier in the morning. A man in a hooded jumper was brought out of the home by detectives just after 10am. NSW Police Commissioner Andrew Scipione said people targeted in the raids had been the subject of an investigation that started earlier this year. He said Australian Federal Police and NSW Police had thwarted a "serious act of violence" .

"That allegation will relate to serious violence on a random member of the public here on the streets of NSW," Mr Scipione said.