Many of the 10 hostages who survived the siege in the Lindt cafe have signed an exclusive deal with Channel Nine to tell their stories on television next month.

It is understood Channel Seven has also signed several siege survivors for its Sunday Night program and the Australian Women’s Weekly magazine has an exclusive interview and photo spread with one of the women.

The stories will be personal accounts and recreations of their encounter in the cafe with the armed gunman Man Haron Monis.

The inquest into the deaths of the two Sydney siege victims Katrina Dawson and Tori Johnson, as well as Monis’s death, will open on 29 January and be presided over by state coroner Michael Barnes.

The interviews will likely air before the inquest is over.

Since the end of the siege there has been an intense battle between media companies to secure interviews with the men and women who were held by Monis for 16 hours inside the Lindt cafe in Sydney’s Martin Place.

Nine was competing for the sole rights against the Seven network as well as Bauer Media’s Australian Women’s Weekly magazine, all of whom were willing to pay tens of thousands of dollars to interview the hostages. Guardian Australia understands most if not all of the hostages are set to appear in a special edition of 60 Minutes on the first night of official TV ratings for 2015, Sunday 4 February.

However, rivalry between Seven and Nine to be first with the story means either one may go to air before 4 February, sources said.

The amount they were paid is unknown but sources said it would be on a sliding scale depending on how close they were to the action and what they saw.

They could be paid anything between $10,000 and $100,000 each, one source said. Some hostages have already spoken without a fee.

Julie Taylor, 35, who worked with Katrina Dawson at the law firm Eight Selborne chambers, issued a statement through the law firm, saying Dawson was “the most wonderful person I have ever met”. “She was my closest friend, a role model and confidant,” she said in the statement.

“Her bravery and strength was, and continues to be, a comfort and inspiration for me.” Some of the faces of the hostages such as customers Stefan Balafoutis and John O’Brien and Lindt workers Paolo Vassallo, Elly Chen and Bae Jieun, are already well known to the public after footage of them escaping were broadcast widely.

The lawyer for one of the women, Jason Arraj, told News Corp his client Marcia Mikhael had recorded a paid-for television interview and was looking for a print deal too. He said interview fees would go to the benefit of a foundation Mikhael was setting up.

