Katrina Dawson, a 38-year-old lawyer and mother of three children, and Tori Johnson, the 34-year-old manager of the Lindt cafe, were killed after being taken hostage in Monday’s deadly attack on a Sydney cafe.

    AS Australia digests the events of the attack on a Sydney cafe Monday, the two hostages who died have been hailed as heroes for the roles they played in ending the siege.

    The 16-hour ordeal marked the country’s first terrorist attack on home soil resulting in the loss of three lives, including that of the gunman and self-styled cleric Man Haron Monis.

    Katrina Dawson, a 38-year-old lawyer and mother of two who worked in Sydney’s central business district was named as one of the victims, alongside Tori Johnson, a 34-year-old café manager.

    Dawson was having her morning coffee with a colleague at the cafe down the street from their law firm’s office when the nightmare began.

    She was among 17 people taken hostage Monis, a man with extremist Muslim views who seized control of the Lindt Chocolate Cafe in the heart of the city’s central business district.

    Social media users celebrated Johnson as a hero after he was reportedly shot when trying to wrestle a gun from Monis as he appeared to fall asleep.

    Dawson was killed after trying to defend her pregnant colleague, Julie Taylor, according to Australia’s News.com.

    Deputy Police Commissioner Catherine Burn told The Age newspaper Tuesday that he would not comment on claims Johnson’s bravery had allowed the other hostages to escape.

    Burn said police were themselves yet to piece together what had transpired in the cafe, and that any investigation could take many months.

    Johnson, who is survived by his partner of 14 years, Thomas Zinn, had worked at the cafe for more than two years, and had previously worked in other cafes in Sydney and in the United States. He had worked at the Martin Place cafe since 2012.

    Johnson’s family released a statement to Channel 9’s Ben Fordham on Tuesday.

    “We are so proud of our beautiful boy Tori, gone from this earth but forever in our memories as the most amazing life partner, son and brother we could ever wish for,” it read.

    “We feel heartfelt sorrow for the family of Katrina Dawson.

    “We’d like to thank not only our friends and loved ones for their support, but the people of Sydney; Australia and those around the world for reaching out with their thoughts and prayers.”

    The family expressed their “deepest gratitude” to the police, armed forces and paramedics for the efforts during the siege, and asked the media for privacy.

    Johnson moved back to Australia in 2004 after a three-year stint overseas, working at hotels in the United States and the Maldives, his LinkedIn profile showed.

    He studied hospitality business management at Washington State University in 2002 and 2003, and held a diploma of hotel management.

    Peter Manettas, from Nicks Restaurant and Bar group, where Johnson worked for more than six years, told Guardian Australia he “always put everyone else first.”

    “He was a leader. He was a very selfless person, he always put his staff before anything else,” Manettas said.

    He said Johnson was close to his family, and maintained close ties with many of his former co-workers when he left to work for Lindt.

    “Family was very, very important to Tori,” Manettas said.

    “A day wouldn’t go by in the period that he was working with us that he would not mention his family.”

    “Everyone is deeply saddened ... our deepest sympathies go out to Tori’s family. It’s a very, very sad day.”

    Lindt Australia chief executive Steve Loane released a statement about Johnson on the Lindt Chocolate Cafe Australia Facebook page.

    “Tori had been with us at Lindt for just over two years and he was a great ambassador for our company and the store that he managed, which he cared about passionately,” Loane said.

    “We also wish to express our deepest condolences to the family of Katrina Dawson, another tragic loss.”

    Dawson was a highly regarded commercial lawyer whose areas of practice included banking and insolvency law, commercial competition and consumer law, Corporations Law, Equity and Property.

    She was the sister of prominent media lawyer Sandy Dawson, and the daughter of McKinsey executive and a sculptor. Sandy Dawson recently represented Fairfax Media in its defamation case against the treasurer, Joe Hockey.

    Dawson completed a law degree at the University of Sydney and a Masters in law at the University of NSW.

    She was married to Paul Smith, a partner at Mallesons, whom she met while completing her clerkship at the firm.

    A friend of Dawson’s told the Australian Financial Review: “I can’t even believe it is her. Just that face, the dimples, the eyes – she was just unforgettable really.”

    “I remember thinking how capable she always seemed, balancing a career and her kids.

    “One time we met for coffee and her two kids were bouncing all over her, drinking their baby chinos and decorating her plate with salt and pepper. But she was just so relaxed and doting on them.”

    Dawson attended Ascham – a private girls school in Sydney’s east. She topped the state in the Higher School Certificate in 1994, with a TER of 100, and topped her bar exams, Fairfax Media reported.

    In addition to her commercial practice, Katrina Dawson was a volunteer legal worker in Redfern.

    The self-styled sheikh Monis, the man behind the siege, had been charged as an accessory to murder and with multiple sexual offences. He also harbored deep grievances against the Australian government and had found little kinship in the city’s large Muslim community, where he was seen as deeply troubled.

    Monis, an Iranian refugee described by those who knew him as a loner, was killed after heavily armed police stormed the cafe.

    Last year, Monis was charged as an accessory to the stabbing murder of his ex-wife, who was set alight in a Sydney apartment block. He was charged this year with more than 40 counts of sexual or indecent assault against women in Sydney, according to court documents.

    He was also found guilty in 2012 of sending threatening letters to the families of eight Australian soldiers killed in Afghanistan and sentenced to two years in prison, although he served only a portion of that penalty.

    Those charges and the conviction, as well as public statements Monis made on his website, have raised questions in Australian media about whether authorities should have done more to monitor him.

    Prime Minister Tony Abbott told reporters that Monis was well known to police. When asked by a journalist whether it was appropriate for Monis to have been granted bail for the murder charge, New South Wales State Premier Mike Baird declined to comment.

    (SD-Agencies)