Police have urged Porepunkah shooting suspect Dezi Freeman to call triple zero and surrender as their “protracted” manhunt in difficult terrain enters its third evening.
Victoria police said on Thursday they had conducted searches on multiple properties near the rural township, warning anyone who harboured the alleged gunman would be prosecuted.
Supt Brett Kahan addressed Freeman directly during a press conference.
“If Dezi Freeman is watching this, ring triple zero, and we will support a surrender plan,” he said. “That option is absolutely open to him.”
There have been no confirmed sightings of Freeman, 56, since he allegedly killed Det Leading Sen Const Neal Thompson, 59, and Sen Const Vadim De Waart, 35, at a rural property on Tuesday morning. Police have said he was heavily armed.
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Severe weather conditions in Victoria’s high country were expected to hamper the police’s third day of the search.
The deputy commissioner regional operations, Russell Barrett, said on Thursday that “every available asset” was being put into the manhunt and other policing organisations were assisting.
“We will not rest until we apprehend the offender,” he said, describing the search as “protracted” owing to the difficult terrain police were navigating. “We will tread carefully through that terrain, because we obviously don’t want to put any of our members in danger.”
On Thursday afternoon, the Australian federal police confirmed it was providing assistance to the Porepunkah operation at the request of Victoria police. Guardian Australia understood officers from the tactical response team had been deployed.
Parts of Victoria’s alpine region, in the state’s north-east, were blanketed with fresh snow on Wednesday night, with the Bureau of Meteorology warning one of the strongest and widespread cold outbreaks of the winter season would move across the state in the coming days.
Victoria police on Thursday said “severe weather conditions” had complicated travel in the area.
As the manhunt continued, Porepunkah primary school – which went into lockdown on Tuesday – reopened. On Thursday, police said local residents – who had been urged to stay indoors – could move around outside but should remain vigilant and not approach the alleged gunman if they came across him.
A message from Victoria police, seen by Guardian Australia, said police continued to search for Freeman, who was “armed and dangerous”.
The state’s police minister, Anthony Carbines, on Thursday said the force was “throwing everything” at finding the “dangerous, armed offender at large”.
He told ABC radio the officers had been “shot down in cold blood doing their job” and Freeman would be “held accountable”.
Members of the public, particularly those visiting nearby ski resorts, were urged not to enter Porepunkah and use alternative routes.
Carbines said the Victoria police chief commissioner, Mike Bush, had not asked for any additional financial support, while interstate police had provided technical and specialised assistance.
Bush on Wednesday acknowledged Freeman knew Victoria’s high country “better than us”. He said anything was possible, including that Freeman had set up traps in the bushland.
Bush said Freeman, who was seen running into the bush alone immediately after the shooting, understood “bushcraft well”. He was last seen wearing khaki tracksuit pants, a dark green rain jacket, brown Blundstone boots and reading glasses, police said.
Bush said police had not recovered any firearms from the property where the shooting took place, leading officers to believe Freeman had taken them all with him. Bush would not confirm reports Freeman may have also taken police firearms.
Freeman said he had a history of unpleasant encounters with the force, who he called “terrorist thugs”, “frigging Nazis” and “Gestapo” that wore “the satanic symbol” of an “inverted pentagram” on their uniforms, according to court records.
He also has a history of association with pseudolaw and “sovereign citizen” ideas.
On Wednesday, Victoria police named Thompson, an adventure-loving local detective planning his retirement, and Waart, on temporary assignment in the alpine region, as the police officers who Freeman allegedly shot as they attempted to execute a search warrants. Another office was injured.
The officer, in a stable condition after surgery, was being treated at the Alfred hospital.
The two police officers had been part of a group of 10 police – made up of local officers and members of the sexual offences and child abuse investigation team – who entered the property in Porepunkah.
Bush said the loss of the two officers had “struck at the heart” of the force, the broader policing family and the community of Porepunkah.
“In the coming days, weeks and months, we will all grieve this loss and deeply miss our colleagues and friends who have paid the ultimate sacrifice in the line of duty,” Bush said.
“It is not lost on me that our members take a risk every time they go to work to protect the Victorian community. While we all live with the knowledge that the worst could happen on a shift, we don’t expect it to.”
Overnight, Melbourne landmarks including Flinders Street station and the Shrine of Remembrance were lit up in blue to honour the officers allegedly shot dead by Freeman.
In parliament on Thursday, Anthony Albanese, the leader of the opposition, Sussan Ley, and the member for Indi, Helen Haines, paid tribute to the victims.
