Two gunmen and driver on run after daylight robbery

Shoppers and diners have run screaming from armed thieves who carried out a daring daylight robbery on a cash-in-transit van outside a southwestern Sydney shopping mall today.

Two gunmen and a getaway car driver are tonight cashed up and on the run.

It began as a routine cash drop-off in the quiet heart of suburbia at 11am.

Two guards were just about to stock up an ATM when two gunmen – believed to be wearing bullet proof vests and armed with large assault rifles – struck.

“I think the most dramatic thing was that the guy was just pointing the gun at everyone,” witness Bishoy Ghaly told 9NEWS.

“That gun, that's something you wouldn't see in this country - it’s like the Middle East.”

The masked bandits forced the guards onto the ground right in the middle of the Clemton Park Shopping Village.

"He sort of put it to his head, tried to get his gun off him, and I think he was panicking a bit so he continue to get the stuff," Mr Ghaly said.

This was no random act of opportunity – almost as soon as it began, it was over. The gunmen were seen running to a waiting getaway car.

Cafes filled with customers enjoying their morning coffees transformed into scenes of chaos, as patrons ran and screamed in terror.

"All the customers upended their food, staff were really scared, and one of the girls had to go home,” another witness said.

“They sped off.”

Within five minutes, police flooded the scene - locking down the street and beginning the chase – but tonight, the men remain on the run.

Police have described the getaway vehicle as a small hatchback.

The male guards were uninjured in the attack.

Anyone with information is urged to call Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.