Bondi shooting live updates: Crowds gather at Bondi for vigil amid heavy security; day of reflection ends with more tributes; PM’s intelligence review lashed by critics

Dignitaries are arriving at the vigil. NSW Premier Chris Minns is here, wearing a kippah. Federal Opposition Leader Sussan Ley is also here, as is Social Services Minister Tanya Plibersek and her husband, NSW Treasury secretary Michael Coutts-Trotter.

NSW Opposition Leader Kellie Sloane has arrived with her husband. NSW Environment Minister Penny Sharpe and the MP for the seat of Sydney, Alex Greenwich, are also in attendance.

Sporting identities are present too, including multiple Olympic gold medal-winning canoeist Jessica Fox and Sydney Swans coach Dean Cox.

NSW Police Commissioner Mal Lanyon has arrived, and there is a strong security presence including a sniper who has taken up a position on a building overlooking Campbell Parade.

There are also representatives from multicultural communities here, such as the Sikh and Pacific Islands communities.

They are being welcomed by senior members of the Jewish community including Alex Ryvchin from the Executive Council of Australian Jewry.

Opposition Leader Sussan Ley has visited Bondi hero Ahmed al Ahmed in his hospital room in Sydney.

The 43-year-old, who is recovering from his injuries after bravely disarming one of the gunmen and then being shot during last Sunday’s terror attack, spoke with Ley and Liberal MP Julian Leeser on Sunday.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese visited Ahmed last week.

Here’s what Ley posted online:

Today I met Ahmed. In a moment of terror, he showed extraordinary courage, wrestling a gun from a man intent on harm and helping to save lives. His actions speak to calm under pressure, decency under threat, and the very best of the Australian character.

Amid heavy security, a crowd is starting to gather for tonight’s vigil and commemoration for victims and survivors of the Bondi Beach mass shooting.

The event is being held by the Jewish community and will take place exactly a week since the horrific events at the iconic location last Sunday.

Australians have been asked to light a candle at 6.47pm as a display of remembrance as well as observing a minute of silence.

The mosaic of flowers in front of the Bondi Pavilion is growing. Some are browning, some are fresh. There’s a bunch from the Sikh community, and a wreath from the Cyprus Community of NSW.

Late on Sunday, a large bouquet was delivered by a florist. It bore a card from Shafiq Abdullah Khan, the managing director of Al Faisal, a Muslim school group with campuses in Auburn, Campbelltown and Liverpool.

“We express our sincere condemnation of this barbaric act and reaffirm our shared commitment to peace, dignity and mutual respect,” the card read.

A rabbi, Yossi Friedman, led the crowd in a Hebrew prayer and the Australian national anthem. The Australian and Aboriginal flags on the pavilion flew at half mast.

Tomorrow, the flowers that carpet a section of the path in front of the Bondi Pavilion will be removed, and parts will be preserved by the Sydney Jewish Museum and the Australian Jewish Historical Society.

About 80 anti-immigration demonstrators ignored calls from Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan, police and Jewish community leaders not to protest on Sunday, gathering on the steps of the Victorian parliament.

As bemused newlyweds posed for pictures at the entry to parliament, the small group stood in heavy rain and some thunder for a Save Australia rally.

A list of speakers railed against immigration, federal and state governments and COVID-19 restrictions.

Speakers also spoke against tightening Australia’s gun laws following last Sunday’s terror attack in Bondi, and called for Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Allan to be sacked.

Allan, police and Jewish community leaders called on protesters from all sides of politics to stay out of the city this weekend as mourning continues for the 15 victims killed in the Bondi attack.

But organisers claimed they needed to march because of the attack.

Police said there were no arrests or incidents of note at the rally.

NSW Liberal senator Andrew Bragg has lashed the federal government after Prime Minister Anthony Albanese today announced a federal inquiry into intelligence and law enforcement agencies.

“The idea that we wouldn’t have a royal commission into this massacre is very offensive,” Senator Bragg said. “Having [the prime minister’s] own department do a review is putting the fox in charge of the henhouse.

“The problem is the structure. You can’t have the PM’s department run it. It’s a massive and unmanageable conflict of interest. There has never been a religious massacre, so it needs the strongest possible structure – there is no precedent.”

Read more: Federal law enforcement and intelligence agencies to be reviewed following Bondi attack

The footbridge at Bondi Beach, from where the gunmen unleashed their terror almost a week ago to the hour, has become a makeshift shrine. Flowers are propped against one side of the bridge, under chalk sketches of a menorah, an Australian flag and a bee, a nod to the middle name of the 10-year-old girl, Matilda, who was killed in the attack.

There’s a sign on the bridge saying that it was the site of a terrible tragedy for the local community.

“Please be respectful and consider others when moving through,” it reads. Immediately below the sign is another, this one homemade: “Replace anger with beauty.” There’s another opposite that says “Replace hate with love.”

Beside the footbridge, a group of men from Chabad Bondi is giving out doughnuts, a nod to the Hanukkah tradition of oil in the temple. Near them, two women dressed as bumblebees are raising money for the families of the two rabbis who died.

One of the women is Rivky Shuchat, who founded the not-for-profit organisation Jewish Education Matters. She was at the event last week dressed as a dreidel, a spinning top with a Hebrew letter on each side, and left only minutes before the shooting to brighten another Hanukkah event with her costume. She knew both rabbis personally. “Their children are in my children’s classes,” she says. “I just want to help them.

“We are standing here in memory of Matilda, asking people if they want to do a kind deed, to put a smile on the face of the children of the rabbis who were killed here a week ago. We won’t be able to bring their father back, but what we can do is financially support them.”

Standing next to the bridge is “very painful, but I just need to do kindness,” she says. “Kindness is so important right now. It’s the only thing keeping me sane.”

There are estimated to be hundreds of police in the area, including the tactical response unit.

Security firm CSG, the organisation contracted to do security work by the NSW Jewish Board of Deputies, also has a heavy presence.