Michael Rogers tried to ward off the attacker with a shopping trolley. Credit:Seven News It is not clear whether Mr Rogers slept rough again on Friday night, hours after his heroic acts were broadcast across social media and national television news. He returned to the scene on Saturday, where in the face of a violent, knife-wielding attacker and only metres from a vehicle that was engulfed in flames, he had risked his own life to save others. Mr Rogers was filmed by bystanders as he took a shopping trolley and tried to repeatedly ram the attacker who was lunging at two police officers. "I've seen the trolley to the side, so I've picked it up and I've ran and threw the trolley straight at him – got him, but didn’t get him down," Mr Rogers told Seven News.

"And I did that motion ... quite a number of times but it just wasn't getting him down. "It was a spur of the moment thing. "There was only two police officers arrived at the time, within seconds of the incident. "The guy was out of control so I just went into action mode and tried to swipe him with the trolley." The attacker, Shire Ali, was forced to retreat to the other side of the road after Mr Rogers first pushed the trolley into him.

Loading Mr Rogers then followed him across the street and pushed the trolley towards him again. At one point, Mr Rogers lost his balance and fell to the ground, but promply got back up and shoved the trolley towards Shire Ali yet again. In another intense moment - as Shire Ali was repeatedly trying to stab the police officers - Mr Rogers managed to push the trolley between the attacker and the officers, creating a barrier. Moments later, Shire Ali was downed with a single shot from a police officer to the chest.

A GoFundMe page titled 'Thankyou Trolley man' had raised more than $1800 for Mr Rogers on Saturday. By noon on Sunday almost $20,000 had been donated, and by 11pm the fund had soared past $90,000. It continued to rise overnight. "We’ve since learned that Trolley man is homeless and we believe his efforts deserve a reward that can really help him out," the crowdfunding page says. "He’s a hero in our eyes. He risked his own life that day for nothing in return and you can’t put a price on that." After tracking down Mr Rogers and speaking to him, the organisers of the fundraising page said he was an "absolutely incredible human" and planned to handover the money raised on Monday.

"We’ve found him! We had a long chat on the phone today and we’re even more proud of him. Our hero is humble as can be and had no idea about this fundraiser. We’ll be catching up tomorrow to hand over his donations. He is amazing," they said. "We’re absolutely blown away by everyone’s generosity and spirit in helping our hero ‘Trolleyman’, get back on his feet. We don’t actually have a set target to reach but due to the incredible generosity we’ve seen so far we’ll keep increasing the total accordingly. We’ve far surpassed our original goal." Seven News reporter Robert Ovadia said after the interview was shot, a police officer shook Mr Rogers' hand and said thank you. Police chief commissioner Graham Ashton confirmed authorities had spoken with the man, but cautioned the public not to put themselves in harm's way.

Loading "People have got to be careful doing that, not to put themselves in harms way when police are there," he said. Other passers-by leapt into action to help police as they tried to disarm the attacker. A second man used a cafe chair to try to ward off Shire Ali, while a third man used the base of a traffic cone. The attacker's ute continued to burn metres away on the street, where - unbeknownst to police and the brave bystanders - there were unexploded barbecaue gas canisters in the back.

Although the gas cylinders were open, they did not explode in the blaze. On Friday night, Premier Daniel Andrews thanked the police officers and the bystanders who risked their lives. "They've done each and every one of us proud," he said of the police. "And those strangers, people who were bystanders, who knew nobody involved, who stepped in without a moment's hesitation to render support and assistance ... make all of us proud as well." Prime Minister Scott Morrison also praised the bravery of police and the other bystanders.