Lindt Cafe siege 'stable' before gunfight

Just 28 minutes before the first "warning shot" was fired during the Lindt Cafe siege, senior police believed the situation was stable and it might even remain calm until daylight.

But only 10 minutes after that first shot, tactical operations officers were forced to storm the cafe when manager Tori Johnson was shot point blank by Man Haron Monis.

Monis was killed in the ensuing gunfight that also claimed the life of barrister Katrina Dawson in the early hours of December 16, 2014.

The commander of the NSW Police State Protection Group, who cannot be named, rejected in the siege inquest on Wednesday that the situation was at a stalemate in the hour before the deadly conclusion.

His final note from a 1.35am meeting indicated he had "high confidence in negotiation strategy".

Even after the first shot was fired at 2.03am, breaking a window above the door where hostages were fleeing, he remained hopeful of a peaceful resolution.

"In my view, here's potentially a warning shot," he said, adding that it was not uncommon for warning shots to be fired in sieges.

"What I thought we should do was re-establish communications (with Monis)."

The commander told the inquest he wasn't aware that a second shot had been fired at 2.11am, and believed the one that killed Mr Johnson at 2.13am to be the second shot.

He agreed the first shot could have triggered an emergency action plan for officers to storm the cafe, but it wasn't his call and thought there needed to be more situational awareness.

"There was a lot of discussion in the lead up about what could be the potential outcome and it certainly weighed on my mind, I'm sure it weighed on other people's minds."

He rejected questioning by counsel assisting, Jeremy Gormly, SC, that no progress had been made negotiating with Monis up to that point.

The commander admitted while they hadn't spoken to Monis directly, which was their main objective, "I thought they were" getting through to him in other ways.

Earlier, the inquest heard that high-risk domestic incidents had prevented police being able to rehearse plans for storming the cafe using a mock-up built by the Australian Federal Police.

"Our resource was fully committed to not only the Martin Place siege incident but we had a number of other high risk domestic-related incidents at the time," the commander said.

"We didn't have the capacity. We had the people to go out there but they were actively engaged in high-risk activities."

The commander is expected to continue his evidence before NSW Coroner Michael Barnes on Thursday.