Senior Constable Brett Forte has been hailed a hero for saving his police partner's life when they came under heavy gunfire yesterday.

Snr Cst. Forte was shot dead during a traffic stop yesterday in the Lockyer Valley by career criminal Rick Maddison.

The officer and his partner had approached Maddison down a dirt road towards a dead-end.

As they reached a crest the female officer screamed "it's a trap".

Maddison was out of the car waiting with an automatic rifle, firing through the windscreen and fatally wounding Snr Cst. Forte.

In a final act of heroism, Snr Cst. Forte accelerated his car in reverse, getting his partner out of harm's way before their car crashed.

Rick Maddison. (Supplied)

Snr Cst. Forte had suffered a critical gunshot wound and could not be revived.

"Just a hero, just a magnificent hero," Ross Ibell, the father of Sr Cst. Forte's partner, told 9NEWS.

"Brett was able to react like that. Right to the end, do his duty and paid the sacrifice."

"It means so much because our daughter is alive," the surviving officer’s mother Patt Ibell said.

After a 21-hour siege, Maddison, 40, was shot at least three times in the chest after he ran towards police and opened fire just after 11am today.

Maddison was believed to have been armed with a machine gun, and had spent the night and morning holed up and surrounded by police at a property in Seventeen Mile, north-west of Gatton.

Maddison was believed to have been armed with a machine gun, and had spent the night and morning holed up and surrounded by police at a property in Seventeen Mile, north-west of Gatton.

Police declared an exclusion zone around the home after Senior Constable Brett Forte was killed while attempting to intercept a vehicle in Seventeen Mile about 2.20pm yesterday.

"As a result of a police incident at an address at Ringwood in the Lockyer Valley, a male person who is the subject of our inquiries has exited the building in which he was in," Assistant Commissioner Tony Wright said today.

"He has been challenged by police, at that point in time he has fired at police, specialist police have returned fire, the male person has been shot and been declared deceased at the scene.

"At this point in time, all our thoughts and prayers are with Susan Forte and her family… it's an extremely traumatic and tragic time," Asst. Comm. Wright said, and refused to comment further on the suspect's death.

Meanwhile, Sr Cst. Forte has been remembered as a dedicated father-of-three and a "fine son" of the Queensland Police Service (QPS).

Senior Constable Brett Forte was killed. (Supplied)

He served for more than 15 years and was part of Toowoomba's Tactical Crime Squad, Police Commissioner Ian Stewart said.

"As you would well imagine, the whole family is devastated. Both his own family, the family of his wife and their extended family," Comm. Stewart said.

Overnight, footage emerged of Sr Cst. Forte's final moments and showed his colleagues trying to assist him.

A police source said an armed and wanted man got out of his car during yesterday's chase and shot the officer before driving down a dirt road.

Another police vehicle reportedly rolled after the chase resumed, and the offender also fired at a police helicopter while entering the farmhouse.

Maddison is understood to have been wanted over armed robbery offences.

Neighbour Peter Hills said Maddison was well-known for his use of guns.

"He's actually a psycho when it comes to guns. We've only just moved out here in the last nine to 10 months and on average, you'd hear gunshots over there one or two nights a week," Mr Hills said.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has given her condolences to the slain officer's friends and family and said people should be "immensely grateful" for the work of police.

"Every day, the brave officers of the Queensland Police Service put their lives on the line when they go to work," she said.