Kai 'Nick' Hao, 36, was murdered by ISIS-inspired gunman Yacqub Khayre

He was killed by a shotgun blast when terrorist burst into serviced apartments

The Chinese-born receptionist had a young child and married 15 months ago

Khayre walked past Mr Hao to take a woman hostage before he was shot dead

The receptionist murdered by ISIS-inspired gunman Yacqub Khayre had a young child and got married only 15 days ago.

Kai 'Nick' Hao, 36 was at his post in the foyer of The Buckingham serviced apartments at 408 Bay Street in Brighton, Melbourne, when the terrorist burst in.

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The Chinese-born Australian was gunned down with a sawn-off shotgun blast so loud neighbours reported the sound to police as an explosion.

Nick Hao, 36, was killed while he worked as a receptionist in the foyer of serviced apartments in Brighton, Melbourne

He was killed when ISIS-inspired gunman Yacqub Khayre (pictured) burst in and shot him with a sawn-off shotgun

Khayre, 29, strolled past Mr Hao's lifeless body up to an apartment in the two-storey complex where a 36-year-old Colombian prostitute waited for him.

The Somali-born gunman, who ordered the escort posing as a client, tied her up and held her hostage during a two-hour standoff with police.

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Soon after he cut off the ankle monitor he was wearing while on parole for a violent home invasion he was released from prison over just seven months earlier.

At 5.41pm he called Seven News and told chief of staff Nicole Bland 'this is for IS, this is for Al Qaeda' while a woman screamed in the background.

Khayre, 29, strolled past Mr Hao's lifeless body up to an apartment in the two-storey complex where a 36-year-old Colombian prostitute (pictured after being rescued) waited for him

Mr Hao worked at The Buckingham serviced apartments at 408 Bay Street in Brighton

Police remove a body from the apartment in Brighton after a deadly two-hour siege that left two men, an Australian national working as a clerk and an ISIS-inspired gunman, dead

Then just before 6pm he burst back into the foyer and wounded three police officers before he was shot dead at the scene.

Questions have since risen over why Khayre, who was also was acquitted of planning a suicide attack against Sydney's Holsworthy army barracks, wasn't just deported back to Somalia after his home invasion sentence.

Police believe he planned his hostage-taking ruse to ambush police using terrifying tactics taken from a vile ISIS propaganda magazine.

The latest issue of the Islamic State's Rumiya magazine, released in May, encourages terrorists to 'lure' hostages and 'keep victims restrained' to maximise publicity.

The latest version of the Islamic State's Rumiya (pictured) magazine, released in May, encourages terrorists to 'lure' hostages and 'keep victims alive and restrained'

'In order for the operation to gain publicity and more effectively plant terror into the hearts of the disbelievers, one can keep some of his victims alive and restrained, making for a more lengthy and drawn-out hostage scenario,' the magazine reads.

'One may then notify the authorities, explaining to them that he is a soldier of the Islamic State and informing them of what he has just done.'

The jihadi magazine's instructions bear a chilling resemblance to the chain of events that unfolded on Monday night. Previous editions of the magazine contain manuals on how best to carry out lone wolf attacks.

Khayre, 29, was shot dead by heavily armed tactical command officers (pictured) after he opened fire on waiting police with a sawn-off shotgun

In 1991, at the age of just three, Khayre and his family fled war-torn Somalia, arriving in Australia to live with his uncle and grandfather.

Growing up in Gladstone Park, north Melbourne, he was reportedly a good student at school until his grandfather died in Year 12 and he fell in with the 'wrong crowd'.

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From there he began committing petty crime and stole his uncle's car in 2006.

In 2007, he was charged with armed robbery after holding up passengers on a Melbourne train, leaving one man with knife wounds.

The bomb squad was sent in to inspect Khayre's rented hotel room on Tuesday morning in the aftermath of the bloody two-hour siege

A bomb squad member suits up before entering the serviced apartment blocks to search for any explosives

He was among five men charged with planning a terrorist attack on the Holsworthy army barracks.

The group were alleged to have planned to break into the secure base and kill as many army personnel as possible. Khayre was one of only two to be cleared.

That came despite him allegedly travelling to Somalia in 2009 or 2010, where he may have attended 'weapons and military' and visited a cleric to gain 'holy approval' to carry out the attack.

The other three men involved in the terrorist plot, all friends from the notorious '8 Blacks' Islamic prayer centre, are serving out 18-year sentences behind bars.

Mr Hao was killed in the foyer of this serviced apartment block, The Buckingham

Khayre, 29, was eager to collect more hostages during the two-hour standoff with police and knocked on numerous apartment (pictured) doors looking for more people

The bedroom of one of the serviced apartments where an ISIS-inspired gunman held a young woman hostage for two hours before he was shot dead

After being acquitted of terror charges, Khayre was jailed for three years for carrying out a drug-affected home invasion in Melbourne's north in 2011.

Terrifying detail in court papers revealed Khayre charged at a woman inside, punching her in the face, her stomach, her back and her shoulders.

The commotion woke up her father, a former Turkish police officer of 25 years. He copped a head-butt and a punch to the face from the future terrorist.

But it wasn't long before the father and his daughter had wrestled him to the ground and called the police.

Khayre was sentenced to more than five years jail with a minimum of three years in October 2012, and was released on parole seven months ago.

Khayre was earlier found guilty of scores of offences since 2007 - including possessing a firearm, burglaries and stabbing a commuter twice in the leg after demanding he hand over his wallet.

A DECADE OF YACQUB KHAYRE'S CRIMES 2007 APRIL: The teenager was sentenced to two years' detention in a youth justice centre for somewhere between 42 and 45 offences. Charges including multiple burglaries and thefts, assault, providing a false name and address, drug possession, car theft and unlicensed driving at dangerous speeds. JUNE: While still incarcerated he was sentenced for attempted armed robbery and intentionally causing injury after stabbing a man on a train twice in the leg, demanding the victim's money and phone. 2008 FEBRUARY: Released on an adjourned undertaking on single charges of burglary and theft. 2010 DECEMBER: After a six-month trial and 16 months in custody, Khayre was cleared by a jury over his alleged role in planning the 2009 Holsworthy army barracks terror plot in western Sydney. Wissam Mahmoud Fattal, Saney Edow Aweys, Nayev el Sayed were jailed in 2011 for a maximum of 18 years for planning a terrorist act to kill as many people as possible in a mass shooting at the army base. 2011 NOVEMBER: Sentenced to time served (112 days in jail) for the possession of a firearm and ammunition without a licence, car theft, failure to answer bail, giving a false name and handling stolen goods. 2012 APRIL: A drug-affected and armed Khayre breaks into a Melbourne family's home. He is confronted by a woman, whom he strikes repeatedly in the face, back, shoulder and stomach in a bid to escape. Khayre is eventually subdued by the woman's father, a former policeman. He pleads guilty to five charges including aggravated burglary and is sentenced to five-and-a-half years, with a minimum of three. 2016 DECEMBER: Khayre is released on parole. 2017 JUNE: Still on parole, Khayre shoots an apartment clerk dead and takes a female escort hostage in a Brighton apartment building. After about two hours, he storms out of the apartment, firing at police before he is killed in a hail of bullets. Source: Australasian Legal Information Institute, Corrections Victoria and Victoria Police

Despite being well known to counter terrorism police, he was deemed a low-risk of offending and released on parole - before committing the attack in Melbourne.

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'He is someone that was known to us as having a long criminal history. A whole range of offending going back many years,' Commissioner Ashton said.

'Most recently he has done some prison time in relation to reckless and intentionally causing injury, and intentionally causing injury, and whilst in prison, he was processed as well for an arson whilst in the corrections system.'

How the terrifying siege in Melbourne unfolded over almost two hours

'Ultimately, he has been qualified for parole, received parole and was on parole at the time of this offence.'

'The early advice from the Department of Corrections was that he was compliant with parole and hadn't presented any issues in relation to his conduct whilst on parole leading up to yesterday.'

Investigators were seen holding a paper bag of evidence found inside the Melbourne apartment where the bloody siege took place with the words: 'Hard covered book with Arabic writing (in cloth bag) on desk in living room' scrawled on it.

Police also executed a search warrant at a home in Roxborough Park, where Khayre lived with his mother and two teenage brothers, on Tuesday morning.

'Hard covered book with Arabic writing (in cloth bag) on desk in living room': Investigators were seen holding a paper bag of evidence found inside the Melbourne apartment where the siege took place

Police also descended on a home in Roxborough Park where Khayre is believed to have lived with his mother and two teenage brothers (pictured seizing bag of evidence)

'We are going to be at that location for some time conducting inquiries there,' Commissioner Ashton said.

'There is a full forensic effort being done. This is now a coronial investigation, being done by the Homicide Squad, with oversight from Professional Standards Command.

'There will be extensive work required at 408 Bay Street today.

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'We will have a lot of police down there today, knocking on doors, talking to people, for witness accounts and also with reassuring the community down there.'