A senior police officer was asked to provide an intelligence profile on Lindt cafe gunman Man Haron Monis to Deputy Police Commissioner Catherine Burn, but could not say why, an inquest into the Sydney siege has heard.

The Commander of the Terrorism Intelligence Unit (TIU), whose name is suppressed, gathered intelligence on the Lindt cafe gunman during the siege.

He told the inquest that Monis was named among six or seven other people as potential suspects, but that Monis emerged as the most likely suspect by mid-afternoon.

The Commander told the inquest he was ordered to provide a copy of an interim intelligence profile of Monis to the Deputy Police Commissioner, and head of Counter Terrorism, Catherine Burn about 2:00pm on the day of the siege.

But under questioning from counsel assisting the inquest Sophie Callan he could not say why Ms Burn was given the profile.

"Why did you understand it was appropriate for Deputy Commissioner Burn to be provided with a profile of Man Monis?" Ms Callan asked. "Only because there was that stronger belief [the gunman] was Man Monis," he replied. "What role did you understand [Ms Burn] was playing in the siege?" Ms Callan questioned. "I didn't understand what role she was playing, I was just asked to provide a copy to her," the Commander replied.

The barrister acting for the NSW Police Force in the inquest, Dr Ian Freckleton QC, previously told the inquest Ms Burn and Police Commissioner Andrew Scipione did not give any directions, orders or advice during the 17-hour siege.

Solicitors for the families of siege victims Tori Johnson and Katrina Dawson have repeatedly called for Commissioner Scipione and Deputy Commissioners Catherine Burn and Jeff Loy to give evidence about their roles during the police operation.

Ms Burn is expected to give a written statement to the inquest but it is not known whether the Deputy Commissioner will be called to give oral evidence.

Police intelligence team struggled to identify Monis

The inquest also heard the Joint Intelligence Group, which was tasked with trying to identify the gunman during the siege, did not confirm the culprit was Man Haron Monis until it had ended.

The Commander of the TIU told the inquest Monis' name was among a list of six or seven potential suspects that intelligence officers circulated to senior commanders during the afternoon of the siege.

But he was forced to admit he did not know about crucial information from homicide detectives hours earlier that confirmed Monis was the gunman.

The TIU did not receive crucial information about Monis' identity. ( AAP Image: Sergio Dionisio )

The inquest heard Detective Senior Constable Melanie Staples recognised Monis from media coverage of the siege about 12:00pm and alerted senior detectives in State Crime Command.

Detective Staples had had extensive contact with the gunman when she led the investigation that resulted in Monis being charged as an accessory to his ex-wife's murder, and previously told the inquest she prepared an intelligence brief to assist those in charge of the siege response.

That police intelligence report, marked "urgent", said: "There is a strong consensus among detectives with personal knowledge of the male that this is Mohammed Manteghi, otherwise known as Sheikh Haron or Man Haron Monis."

Counsel assisting Sophie Callan asked: "Do you know why you were not included in that information sharing?"

"I can't answer that, I'm not sure why that was done," the Commander replied.

The inquest also heard the TIU only received a fraction of the tip-offs made to the National Security Hotline about Monis in the days before the siege.

The hotline received 18 calls relating to posts on Monis' Facebook page and website, but only six were referred to NSW Police for investigation.

The Commander told the inquest his team reviewed the calls and found they did not contain any information relating to an imminent threat.

"There was no information in these reports that contained a level of threat, and no indication of [Monis's] behaviour," he said.

When asked why his team only received reports of six calls, the Commander said it was his understanding that NSW Police are only advised of tip-offs that fall within its jurisdiction.