SYDNEY, May 24 (Xinhua) -- An inquest into the 2014 Lindt Cafe siege in Australia handed down its findings on Wednesday, concluding that despite some police errors during the operation, the perpetrator Man Haron Monis was solely to blame for the incident that left him and two others dead.
"I cannot stress too heavily that the deaths and injuries that occurred as a result of the siege were not the fault of the police," New South Wales State coroner Michael Barnes said.
"All of the blame for those rests with Man Haron Monis."
In the dramatic conclusion of the 17-hour ordeal in Sydney, Monis executed hostage Tori Johnson who was a manager at the venue.
But ten minutes earlier a gunshot was fired, which Barnes said, should have "initiated" tactical police teams to respond.
"The 10 minutes that lapsed without decisive action by police was too long," Barnes said.
"Tori Johnson was executed in the meantime before the decision to enter the cafe was made."
Adding that, the first shot "made it clear there was little to no chance of resolving the siege."
To make matters worse, a second hostage Katrina Dawson was killed by police when bullet fragments ricocheted as officers fired at Monis upon entering the building.
Barnes described the moment as "a terrible accident".
New South Wales police commissioner Nick Fuller admitted to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation earlier in the week that "in hindsight, as with everything, we know we should have gone in earlier."
"It does not guarantee there will not be a loss of life ... but clearly a deliberate action is a much more professional action and a lower risk in terms of emergency action," Fuller said.
Although Barnes praised the bravery of officers, errors in procedure such as delays in connecting Monis to a hostage negotiator "was a significant failure in a basic component of siege management," Barnes said.
The inquest also criticised the judicial system in New South Wales which allowed Monis to be granted bail despite being charged with being an accessory to his ex-wife's brutal murder.
The incident will officially be recorded as an act of terror, however the inquest conceded that it may not ever be known if Monis used the attack "to bolster his own ends" or whether he was motivated by support for the Islamic State terrorist group.
