The Sydney siege inquest has seen CCTV footage of the moment tactical police enter the Lindt cafe.

AT ONE point, the Lindt Cafe siege hostages thought they might not be saved from gunman Man Haron Monis.

“We said something along the lines of, ‘I don’t think they can do anything, somebody is going to die tonight,’” 20-year-old cafe worker and hostage Jarrod Morton-Hoffman told the inquest today.

The inquest into the deaths arising from the siege, which began when gunman Monis entered the cafe on December 15, 2014 and took 18 people hostage, resumed on Tuesday after breaking for Easter.

“I felt like without police involvement at the time the rest of defusing the situation fell on the people within. If someone wasn’t going to save us anytime soon we were going to have to save ourselves,” Mr Morton-Hoffman said.

“Without discussing it, (our strategy was) just placating him and trying to defuse him and trying to make him not be volatile. And just trying to stick to playing his mind.

“He seemed unstable, emotional, not very logical. I think ‘volatile’ is the word to describe him.

“(I’d describe him as) a very dangerous toddler, didn’t seem to follow any logic, his demands changed with the wind, he was driven largely by emotion and anger and he was easy to manipulate.”

Some of the hostages discussed possible escapes on “toilet breaks” during the ordeal.

Mr Morton-Hoffman and fellow hostage Fiona Ma were put in charge of escorting hostages to the bathrooms, which they did about 10-15 times each.

It was on these trips the hostages would use hidden phones to text those on the outside for help or simply to take a “break” from Monis.

They also discussed Monis’ demands for an Islamic State flag, and whether or not they would be met.

“In the bathroom (Fiona, who had a phone) sent a message out to friends,” Mr Morton-Hoffman said.

“I didn’t want her to publish anything publicly because if Monis found out (via media reports) we were communicating in the bathroom that would be very bad.

“I spoke to Joel, Harriet and a few others (in the bathroom) about the side door being opened and I spoke to Fiona about the day in general and what was (likely) to happen in the next few hours.”

Mr Morton-Hoffman said he took hostages to the women’s bathrooms, which were upstairs and a further distance from the cafe compared to the men’s downstairs, as the day wore on.

“The main reason being Monis was becoming more volatile so I wanted more time away in case he opened fire,” he said.

“I threw up in the bathroom (from stress).

“(That was) probably around 8pm.”

Mr Morton Hoffman said he became concerned the breaks were taking too long when Monis started shouting for them to come back.

“One example, I was called and he walked close to the men’s bathroom, (and) checked what we were doing,” he said.

“We were giving Robin or Louisa their medication and he was like, ‘OK, follow me back’ and we all went back.”

Monis’ anger escalated when three hostages later escaped.

“He was loudly muttering that police had come into the building and taken hostages and was muttering to himself that now he needed to shoot someone in retaliation,” Mr Morton-Hoffman said.

The inquest heard how Mr Morton-Hoffman convinced the gunman that the hostages had escaped and not been freed by police.

“I wanted to try to stop him thinking police came in so he wouldn’t have to shoot someone,” he said.

“He was highly emotional, I felt that if I didn’t say something at the time he might just pull the trigger.”

Counsel assisting told the inquest that Monis eventually believed Mr Morton-Hoffman then turned to the remaining hostages and said: “Everybody thank Jarrod, I would have shot somebody.”

Mr Morton-Hoffman also slipped cards with hand-drawn maps under a door to tip police off on the layout of the cafe and the whereabouts of the gunman and hostages inside.

The inquest heard Mr Morton-Hoffman later assisted another two hostages to escape by muffling the sound as they fled before convincing Monis that media reports about the number of escapees were wrong.

Mr Morton-Hoffman tole the inquest Monis became increasingly paranoid and made the remaining hostages form a “human shield” around him after the first few hostages escaped.

“If anyone escapes, I’ll shoot a person and you’ll go to jail for murder,” Monis reportedly said.

Mr Morton-Hoffman said Monis eventually requested food and a cup of tea.

“I said to (hostage) Harriet ‘we should put sleeping pills in his tea’, but none of us had sleeping pills,” he said.

“Another idea was to throw hot water at him.

“They were more hopes than ideas.”

Mr Morton-Hoffman said Monis wanted to remain anonymous, asking the hostages to refer to him only as “brother” and ordering them to keep their eyes closed.

“He didn’t like to be referred to as a terrorist,” Mr Morton-Hoffman said.

“When we were making a YouTube video the word came up and he said, ‘I’m not a terrorist.’”

SECRET MESSAGES SENT DURING SIEGE

A previously unheard recording of a triple-0 call made by Mr Morton-Hoffman from the Lindt Cafe to emergency operators was played at the Sydney siege inquest earlier on Tuesday.

Mr Morton-Hoffman was tasked with calling authorities to make demands on behalf of Monis.

“(I was) scared, (it was) a lot of responsibility, if I screwed up someone would have died,” Mr Morton-Hoffman said.

He told the inquest how he used certain tricks to communicate secret messages to authorities during the phone calls. He said he tried to emphasise various words to answer the operator’s questions without the gunman realising.

“I was trying to answer the questions without him knowing,” Mr Morton-Hoffman said. “(I’d say) ‘no one is hurt’ and emphasise the ‘one’ (when the operator asked how man gunmen were in the building).”

Mr Morton-Hoffman told the inquest he was ordered to make the calls because the gunman and hostages could see a police officer with a “riot shield” outside the cafe.

Monis wanted police and all cars within sight, removed from the area.

“I think Monis had just spotted the individual in the corner,” Mr Morton-Hoffman said.

“He freaked out and asked me to call the police and tell them to move back or he was going to shoot someone.

“His tone changed and he changed his gun and pointed it at one of the hostages (a female, but I can’t recall which one).”

• The first call he made to emergency operators was about 12.56pm:

Mr Morton-Hoffman: “I’m currently a hostage at Martin Place can you please tell police officers to move immediately. He’s going to shoot someone right now. Can you please tell them to ... go away. Please tell them to go away.”

Emergency operators: “What’s your name?”

Mr Morton-Hoffman: “My name is Jarrod Morton-Hoffman.”

Emergency operators: “How old are you?”

Mr Morton-Hoffman: “19.”

Emergency operators: “Do you work there?”

Mr Morton-Hoffman: “Yes.”

Emergency operators: “I’m talking to police at the moment.”

Mr Morton-Hoffman: “Two minutes or he’ll shoot someone.”

Emergency operators: “How many people are in there with guns?”

Mr Morton-Hoffman: “Sorry I’m just listening to (pause) for a moment. One person. He has not hurt a single person. He has not hurt anyone. He’s talking to me right now, he’s saying to please go away. If the police at the window do not move he’s going to shoot someone.”

Emergency operators: “How big is the gun?”

Mr Morton-Hoffman: “It’s a shotgun.”

Emergency operators: “Is he calm, what’s he like?”

Mr Morton-Hoffman: “Yes, he’s been very good to us. But if you come close he will shoot and explode his bombs.”

Emergency operators: “Can you see any bombs in there?”

Mr Morton-Hoffman: “No but he says he has one. We need someone to cancel the bombs.”

Emergency operators: “What’s he doing now?”

Mr Morton-Hoffman: “He has a gun pointed at the lady and he hasn’t moved. Please tell him to move. I need to go, I’m sorry.”

• The second call by Mr Morton-Hoffman to triple-0:

Emergency operators: “What’s happening?”

Mr Morton-Hoffman: “There’s two cars on Phillip Street … one Armaguard truck and one Volkswagen … they’re parked on Phillip St outside Westpac. Any car that is near the window he wants removed.”

Emergency operators: “He wants the vehicles removed, why?”

Mr Morton-Hoffman: “Why do you want the vehicles removed (he asks Monis)?”

Mr Morton-Hoffman: “He just wants them.”

Emergency operators: “That information is being passed on. Has he got anything else he needs to say?”

Mr Morton-Hoffman: “Yes. He keeps his word. He was about to shoot this lady in front of me.”

Louisa Hope (interjects to operator): “He was about to shoot me, then the police moved as he instructed on time, so please do on time. I don’t want to die.”

THE MOMENT HE KNEW SOMETHING WAS WRONG

Earlier, Mr Morton-Hoffman said he first knew something was wrong the moment he saw Lindt Cafe store manager Tori Johnson sitting at a table with Man Haron Monis.

Mr Morton-Hoffman told the inquest Mr Johnson looked “scared and nervous”, was hunched over, blinking intensely and was very quiet.

Mr Morton-Hoffman said he initially thought the Reserve Bank Australia across the road from the Lindt Cafe was being robbed.

When Monis walked into the cafe there was no hint of the calamity that was about to unfold.

His sawn-off pump action shotgun was hidden in a blue plastic bag and the Islamic flag he would later make terrified hostages hold at the windows was hidden from view.

Like an ordinary customer, he ordered chocolate cake and drank a cup of tea. When he’d finished he asked if he could be moved to another table — one close to the doors that would give him a view of the whole cafe.

When Monis was seated he asked to speak to the store manager. No one was sure why but staff became fearful when the normally calm Mr Johnson became “visibly stressed” as he listened to what Monis was telling him.

“Yes, he looked scared and nervous,” Mr Morton-Hoffman, said of Mr Johnson at the inquest on Tuesday. “I would say Tori was taller but more lean. And I would say Monis was a bit shorter and podgy. I’d say Monis was larger in terms of weight.

“Tori was hunched forward. His facial expression, I noticed from the months working with Tori, sometimes when he’s nervous he blinks a lot, quite an intense blink.

“He was quite quiet. He was kind of devoid of emotion, which said a lot as he’s usually full of emotion so that’s what worried me.”

Counsel assisting the coroner, Jeremy Gormly SC, said that, at some point, Mr Johnson signalled for Mr Morton-Hoffman.

“It would have been immediately afterwards,” Mr Morton-Hoffman continued. “He waved for me to come over then called my name. He said ‘Jarrod come over’ (and I did). My entire attention was on Tori at the time.

“I leant over to speak to Tori, his voice was quite soft. He told me ‘I need you to go and lock the doors, we’re closed, tell the staff everything is OK, we’re safe’. (He was looking at me and he looked) frightened.

“(I felt) we were in danger. I thought the Reserve Bank across the road was being robbed. I thought potentially (Monis) worked for Chubb because there’d been a large influx of officers that day so I assumed something was going on across the road.”

Monis had not said anything to anyone inside the cafe except Mr Johnson at that stage.

“Tori said ‘go get the keys and lock the door’,” Mr Morton-Hoffman said.

“I said to Paolo Vassallo (another Lindt worker) ‘something’s wrong, I think we’re in danger, I think the Reserve Bank is being robbed across the street. Joel Herat came and asked me what was wrong and I said the same thing.

“(Joel) put a knife in his apron pocket.”

MONIS TOLD ME TO ‘SIT THE F**K DOWN’

Mr Morton-Hoffman told the inquest he was putting up handwritten “closed” signs under the direction of Mr Johnson, on behalf of Monis, and yet Monis called out to him to stop.

“I said ‘I’ve got to put up the sign’ and he said ‘no you don’t, sit the f**k down’. (I looked at him and he was holding) a shotgun (I hadn’t seen before). (I realised) the danger was inside the cafe and not outside.

“He spoke aggressively (like that throughout the day).”

Mr Morton-Hoffman said, for the first time, he also realised Monis had put on a bandanna, vest and backpack.

Mr Morton-Hoffman said he followed instructions and sat down.

‘HE ORDERED US TO CLOSE OUR EYES AND BE SILENT’

Mr Morton-Hoffman told the inquest the hostages “weren’t meant to be speaking”.

“He told us to be silent and (we) were,” he said.

Monis learnt the majority of the hostages names and referred to them by that, according to Mr Morton-Hoffman, with the exception of Mr Johnson who he called “manager”.

Mr Morton-Hoffman also said that everyone was told to put their mobile phones and IDs on a table.

“I put my driver’s licence and my phone, (others) put their phones down,” he said.

Counsel assisting the coroner, Jeremy Gormly SC, asked whether Monis had said anything about his backpack.

“He said he had two bombs, he didn’t say where but I assumed they were in his backpack,” Mr Morton-Hoffman said.

“He started moving people around the cafe, and putting some up against the windows and put two in the foyer. He would physically move you, with your eyes closed, to the position. I had my eyes closed. He put me at table 10.”

Monis then forcibly moved Mr Morton-Hoffman, who still had to keep his eyes closed, to the window.

“(He) was firm but I wouldn’t say violent. (He held me) around my bicep.”

Monis gave Mr Morton-Hoffman a flag and told him to hold it to the window. Monis could be seen whispering to Mr Morton-Hoffman in the footage showed at the inquest on Tuesday.

“He said I was holding it upside down. (He was bothered by that),” Mr Morton-Hoffman said.

THE HOSTAGE MONIS DUBBED ‘HIS SECRETARY’

Mr Morton-Hoffman said he heard hostage Louisa Hope making calls while he was holding the flag at the window.

He said she spent about half-an-hour making calls and Monis referred to her as “his secretary”.

“He would give demands and she would say them (on the phone). I believe (Louisa) called the police (and media). He repeated the same demands, about having two bombs, that he wanted to tell the bombers to not release their bombs and he had to go on ABC radio because (the ‘brothers’) listen to ABC and he wanted to have a live discussion with Tony Abbott on air.

“I thought he was a lone wolf gunman, I thought he was ISIS-inspired with a political agenda. (I didn’t believe) that he had bombs and brothers across the city. (The gun), I believed that.”

Mr Morton-Hoffman said hostage Elly Chen became unwell and started throwing up around table one.

He said Monis gave him permission to help Ms Chen.

“I told her to go into the foetal position and gave her a bag. Then Marcia (Mikhael) took proper care of her,” he said.

“I think she (Robin Hope, Louisa’s elderly mother) wanted to go to the bathroom. (Monis) said ‘wait’. She rather forcefully said ‘no’. He told her to be quiet. She started, kind of yelling back at him a little bit. He said ‘Louisa, tell your mother to shut up’. Louisa told her to stop talking and she kind of did, just grumbled a little bit.

“I feel if someone else had done it, someone younger, like Tori or I, we probably wouldn’t have got off so easy.”

Mr Morton-Hoffman is expected to continue detailing what he saw and experienced inside the Lindt Cafe on Wednesday, before fellow survivor Fiona Ma takes to the witness box.

The inquest into the siege, which left hostages Katrina Dawson, Mr Johnson and gunman Man Haron Monis dead, is expected to run for another seven weeks.

During last week’s opening the inquest heard details of what Monis is believed to have said to Mr Johnson, the Lindt Cafe manager, before killing him.

Several of the first officers to arrive at the developing scene also spoke about what they had done and seen in the early moments of the unfolding 16-hour siege.