One man, Omarjan Azari, was charged with a terrorism-related offence. It was an overreaching display of state power, with very little to show for it.

Occurring just after the terror threat was raised a notch to high, the government's commitment of Australian troops to fight Daesh Isis in Iraq, and the announcement of a new wave of punitive counter-terrorism measures, the impression was that the orchestration was far too neat not to be regarded sceptically. Certainly, there has been much discussion about whether the government's actions might have contributed to the trouble, as well as having been a response to them.

In any case, in September the statements from politicians were red in tooth and claw.

Tony Abbott, the prime minister, had already found the charged man guilty. Speaking in Darwin as he waved goodbye to troops on their way to Iraq, he said: "So this is not just suspicion, this is intent."

Mike Baird, the premier of New South Wales, adopted George Bush-style rhetoric.

"We will hunt you down," he said. The NSW police commissioner, Andrew Scipione, was the only one trying to underplay the theatrics. "We don't need to whip this up," he said, after his officers had done precisely that.

Indeed, the September raids were accompanied by the uncorroborated suggestion by the prosecution in court that a lone assassin was wanting to stalk an innocent citizen in Sydney's main financial thoroughfare, Martin Place, and behead them in view of the public.

At the time, Abbott chimed in: "The advice of our police and security agencies was that an attack of this nature could take place within days."

And as the national security show was being cranked up in Canberra, the then-head of Australia's spy agency Asio, David Irvine, appeared forlornly at a media conference.

He said something that has been borne out today.

"I worry, and I've worried for five-and-a-half years, about lone wolves popping up who've avoided the radar in some way or another."

Here we have the greatest security apparatus in Australia's history, with new powers served up on a silver platter by the parliament and more to come, and still a man can walk into a coffee shop and hold a city to ransom.

Today's political tone was remarkably downbeat. The day began with another terror-related arrest, this time in the Sydney suburb of Beecroft, and as it draws to a close the siege is ongoing. But we have not seen the paranoia that typified the September raids.

"Australia is a peaceful, open and generous society," Abbott said, encouraging us to go about our business. Baird was equally comforting. He was asked whether the siege would change the way people approach their everyday life in Sydney.

"No it won't and no it shouldn't. We are incredibly proud of this city. The values we hold dear and we will continue at every point to protect them," he said.

'We are in this together'

Richard Ackland, Guardian News & Media Ltd

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