WARNING: This story contains graphic content

AUSTRALIAN woman Marilou Danley, the partner of Las Vegas gunman Stephen Paddock, has arrived back in the US.

US federal officals met Ms Danley at LAX airport, Sky News reported.

NBC featured footage of a woman sitting in a wheelchair being escorted through LAX, however it was not confirmed whether the video actually featured Ms Danley.

Danley’s sisters revealed to Channel Seven news that the former Gold Coast resident had been put on a flight by Paddock to The Philippines two weeks before the massacre. He had also sent $127,000 to an account there.

“She didn’t even know that she was going to The Philippines until Steve said, ‘Marilou, I found you a cheap ticket to The Philippines,’” one of the unnamed women stated.

“She was sent away. She was away so that she will not be there to interfere with what he’s planning.”

“He sent her away so that he can plan what he is planning without interruptions,” one of Danley’s sisters said. “In that sense I thank him for sparing my sister’s life. But that won’t be to compensate the 59 peoples’ lives.”

The sisters of the Las Vegas gunman's Australian girlfriend speak The sisters of the Las Vegas gunman's Australian girlfriend speak

The tearful women insisted their sister was “a good person and gentle soul” but suggested she might be able to assist authorities in their investigations.

“No-one can put the puzzles together. No one. Except Marilou. Because Steve is not here to talk anymore. Only Marilou can maybe help.”

The women stated that their sister would have been shocked by what Paddock had done.

“To be able to find out the person you love and live with can do such a thing. And you thought you know the person yourself,” one of Danley’s sisters said.

Paddock used Ms Danley’s ID to check into the Mandalay Bay hotel before carrying out his deadly rampage.

The gunman reportedly wired $US100,000 to The Philippines the week before the shooting.

Born in The Philippines, Ms Danley moved to the Gold Coast for around ten years after marrying a local man. Reports say she moved to the US 20 years ago, marrying Geary Danley from Arkansas.

BODYCAM FOOTAGE REVEALS POLICE RESPONSE

Dramatic bodycam footage has emerged showing police officers under fire in the hunt for Paddock.

The chilling video shows officers crouching behind a wall facing the Mandalay Bay hotel as a volley of gunshots rained down on them.

It was released as Las Vegas police defended their response time to the shooting and announced an internal investigation into the leaking of crime scene photos from inside Paddock’s room.

Another person has died following the massacre, bringing the death toll to 60.

Gunfire can be heard in the background as officers try to work out where the shots are coming from.

Las Vegas police chiefs told a media conference Paddock fired for about 9 to 11 minutes “off and on” from the window of his Mandalay Bay hotel room, before turning the gun on himself.

“We know that the suspect fired over a dozen or so volleys and that the firing ceased about 10.19pm,” Las Vegas Metro Police Undersheriff Kevin McMahill said.

“So I want you to think about that. The first minute the place are aware of shots being fired at 10.08 and it stops at 10.19. That’s a remarkable response by this police department.”

US police say Paddock, who fired at a country music festival crowd from the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay Resort, “extensively” planned the massacre.

Authorities have revealed the incredible efforts the 64-year-old gunman went to as the shocking leaked photographs from inside his lair in the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino emerged. At least 60 people are dead and 527 were injured in the gunfire. To date, there have been no Australian victims identified.

A Las Vegas sheriff said Paddock placed cameras in his room and in a food car in the nearby hallway so he could see when police officers were closing in.

“It was pre-planned, extensively, and I’m pretty sure that he evaluated everything that he did in his actions, which is troublesome,” Joseph Lombardo, the sheriff of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, said.

Lombardo reportedly said one of the cameras was hidden in a food service cart in the hallway outside the suite. Law enforcement authorities said the purpose of that camera was to give the gunman a live video feed of what was happening outside his door.

The ABC reported Paddock also set up a camera inside his hotel room to capture his deadly shooting rampage.

An assault rifle resting on a bipod is seen on the floor through the breached door of Paddock’s hotel room on the 32nd floor, which is crisscrossed by yellow crime-scene tape.

A marker with the number 19 is seen resting near the weapon — one of 23 that police found along with Paddock’s body.

SNIPER’S NEST REVEALED

New photos have emerged revealing the horrifying scene that SWAT teams encountered when they blew down the door to Paddock’s room on the 32nd floor.

The confronting pictures show Paddock’s body on the floor surrounded by assault rifles, dozens of used shells and a hammer that was presumably used to smash the window while setting up his sniper’s perch.

Also in view is the bipod he used to stand one of the rifles as he sprayed the crowd of 22,000 with bullets as they attended the Route 91 Harvest festival.

One of the rifles features a fixed scope and the other contains a high-capacity detachable magazine.

He smuggled a cache of 23 weapons into the hotel, including AK-47s and “bump stock” devices to make his guns fully automatic.

Two Nevada gun shops have confirmed that they sold firearms to Paddock in the past year and said he passed all required background checks.

VEGAS MASSACRE ‘INCONCEIVABLE’: PM

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull says the United States is unlikely to follow Australia’s example on stricter gun control laws in the wake of the worst mass shooting in its history.

Mr Turnbull said it seemed almost inconceivable that such a shocking tragedy as the Las Vegas massacre could happen.

But the United States’ gun laws seemed like an “intractable problem,” he told ABC radio this morning.

“Looking at it from the outside, people like ourselves who are admirers of and friends of America ... find it extraordinary that a private citizen could legally acquire military weapons,” Mr Turnbull said.

The success of Australia’s strict gun laws, introduced after the Port Arthur massacre, were well known in the US, he said.

Foreign Affairs Minister Julie Bishop has confirmed there have been no Australians identified so far.

“I can confirm that the local authorities have identified all but three of the victims of this mass shooting,” Ms Bishop told reporters in Sydney this morning.

“To date none of them have been identified as Australian citizens.

“The process of contacting those who have been admitted to hospital continues but I’m informed by our consul-general and our people in the United States that, while a number of Australians were present at the scene, no Australians have been directly affected as victims or amongst the injured.”

SHOOTER SENT AUSSIE GIRLFRIEND $100K

It has been reported that Paddock wired US$100,000 (AU$128,000) to the Philippines where his live-in girlfriend was set to arrive on October 1.

It is not clear exactly what the money was intended for, NBC reported.

Paddock’s 62-year-old girlfriend, Marilou Danley, travelled to Hong Kong on September 25 and then went on to the Philippines on October 1, possibly to visit family, investigators have said.

She is a native of The Philippines and an Australian citizen and lived on the Gold Coast for 20 years before coming to America.

Neighbours said Ms Danley described herself as a gambler.

Her LinkedIn page said she worked as a “high-limit hostess” at a Vegas casino.

Her slot-machine card, which is used to rack up bonuses and other benefits through play, was found in Paddock’s suite, according to the Nevada Independent.

She was initially considered a person of interest, but later cleared when investigators determined Paddock acted as a “lone wolf.”

Ms Danley is expected to return to the US for questioning, the Las Vegas Sheriff’s Department said.

GUNMAN WAS MILLIONAIRE WITH GAMBLING HABIT

It was revealed that Paddock blew tens of thousands of dollars at casinos before the massacre.

The 64-year-old made millions from real estate deals, according to his brother; he also owned two planes and several properties across the US, and seemed normal apart from his passion for gambling large sums.

Police are investigating whether the seemingly mild mannered ex-accountant’s gambling addiction drove him to carry out the deadliest mass shooting in modern US history.

His brother, Eric, revealed the mass murderer was a “big fish” in Vegas casinos.

“It’s like a job for him. It’s a job where you make money,” Eric said. “He was at the hotel for four months one time. It was like a second home. He’s known. He’s a top player. He’s the small end of the big fish.”

MORE: Las Vegas massacre, the unanswered questions

REVEALED: Why it took 72 minutes to get the killer

TRUMP TO DISCUSS GUN LAWS ‘LATER’

US President Donald Trump has called Paddock “sick” and “demented”.

“He was a sick man, a demented man. Lot of problems, I guess, and we’re looking into him very, very seriously,” the US President told reporters as he departed the White House to visit Hurricane-ravaged Puerto Rico.

Asked about gun laws, he added: “We’ll be talking about gun laws as time goes by.”

Mr Trump is due to visit Las Vegas tomorrow.

HOW THE SHOOTING UNFOLDED

When Paddock started shooting at the crowd through his broken high-rise hotel window, many in the crowd at the Route 91 Harvest Festival thought it was firecrackers.

It was 10.08pm Sunday (4:08pm AEDT), and country music singer Jason Aldean was in his final set when Paddock launched a vile and calculated attack from his perch high above the 22,000 concertgoers.

Police yesterday revealed he had 23 guns in his 32nd floor room in the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino, some of them mounted on tripods and converted into fully automatic weapons.

At the front of the crowd was Pennsylvania college student Shannon Monosky, 23, who was on the fourth day of a solo holiday in Las Vegas and who had headed at the last minute to the concert.

“At first there were all these pops and we thought it was nothing, but then everyone seemed to realise at once we were being attacked,” she said last night.

“It was chaos. People were getting trampled, they were on the ground, they were bloody and at that point you didn’t realise they were shot.”

“I thought they had fallen down and gotten cut or something, because it was the last thing that you wanted to believe, that people were actually getting killed in front of you.”

Ms Monosky joined the rush to the exit, trying to reach her mother at home.

“The phonecall wouldn’t go through at first, because the crowd was so big your call would not actually connect,” she said, fighting back tears yesterday.

“When my mum answered and I finally heard her voice, I just wanted her to stay on the phone because I thought that was going to be the last time I heard her voice.”

Oregon couple Mike Sherman and Ashley Hurliman were stunned when they saw crowds sprinting past them as they walked out a Cirque de Soliel show down the Strip at the Bellagio.

“After the show, Mike went into the bathroom and I just took a seat and then all of a sudden this sea of people just comes running by me,” said Ms Hurliman.

“I thought they were having fun, but then I saw the fear in their faces.

“So I ran into the men’s room and started yelling for him because people were saying there’s a shooter.”

After spending the night on the floor of a conference room in the Bellagio, where they were told by police they had to shelter, the couple were last night keen to end their holiday early and head home.

“Everyone wanted to leave the conference centre,” he said.

“It was just disbelief that we were stuck in there and couldn’t get out. Everyone was frantic because they were holding us there.”

With talk of multiple shooters and little detail about what was happening, the pair were relieved to return their Mandalay Bay hotel room in the morning.

“We turned on the television and just couldn’t believe it,” said Ms Hurliman.

“It just doesn’t seem real still.”

Australian IT worker Glenn Folkes was blissfully unaware of the shooting taking place just down the hall from his hotel room.

“I had just arrived from Australia and had some dinner and then went to bed and took a sleeping tablet to get a good night’s sleep,” said Mr Folkes, 46, from Sydney’s inner west.

“About an hour later I was woken up by three SWAT guys in the room with machine guns and telling me we had to get out and quickly.

“It was pretty hectic. I was only an hour into a sleep with a sleeping tablet in me so it was obviously a bit drowsy and didn’t quote know what to think.”

As he was ushered towards a service lift, Mr Folkes saw more armed police with their guns pointed towards the door of a room about six doors down from his.

He doesn’t recall hearing gunfire, and suspects Paddock — who killed himself before police broke down his door — may already have died.