But when the 36-year-old Colombian woman arrived, Khayre killed the building's concierge, a 36-year-old Chinese-Australian man, and took her hostage.
A police auto is pictured outside the Buckingham Serviced Apartments in Bay Street in Brighton in Melbourne, Australia, after a shooting, June 5, 2017.
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said the attack underlined the need to be constantly vigilant.
One police officer was shot in the neck and ear and two officers suffered wounds to their hands, but none of the wounds was life-threatening, Ashton said.
The prime minister's comments come after Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews said parole decisions involving people on terror watchlists should be a "national issue" and have the involvement of ASIO and federal police.
"The executor of the Melbourne attack in Australia is a soldier of the IS and he carried out the attack in response to appeals to target citizens of coalition states", it said.
Khayre had been acquitted in 2010 of planning a suicide attack on an Australian military base.
Ashton said Khayre, an 29-year-old Australian of Somali heritage, had a long criminal history and was on parole at the time of the attack.
He then called cops to say he had a hostage, vowing to kill the woman if officers intervened.
The authorities labelled the attack as a terrorism incident but added that investigations are ongoing into whether it was planned or random. He had a long record of violence...
No. 1 Kerber suffers historic upset at French Open
This marked Kerber's 11th consecutive trip to the French Open with her best showing when she journeyed to the 2012 quarterfinals. It just wasn't her day. - World number one Angelique Kerber after her first round loss. "Well", she said, "that's unbelievable".
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said he would speak with state leaders Friday about changing state laws, so that risky criminals like Khayre were not released from prison on early parole.
The Melbourne siege has sparked debate about immigration and travel policies.
The IS said via its news agency, Amaq, that the attack was launched because of Australia's membership of a US-led coalition against the militant group.
"We're always concerned about copy cats", Australia's acting police commissioner Michael Phelan said, according to NBC.
Police believe he became radicalised after attending Preston mosque with other men who were also charged over the barracks plot.
The Victorian Supreme Court was told during that case that Khayre had been a worshiper at a Melbourne mosque and at a nearby prayer hall regarded by police as an "incubator" of extremist ideology.
Police are investigating whether the gunman tried to lure them into an ambush and whether he did have any links to ISIL.
The Reuters write-up detailed that the alleged ISIS associate "arranged to meet a female escort at a block of serviced apartments in the beachside Melbourne suburb of Brighton on Monday".
They say they have prevented 12 attacks on home soil since the threat level was raised in September 2014, including a foiled Christmas Day plot in Melbourne a year ago, with more than 60 people charged. He was sentenced in 2012 to 5? years in prison on convictions including aggravated burglary after beating a woman in her home.
Comments