Freeman’s family have condemned his actions and have been closely watched by police during the manhunt; his wife was reportedly shocked by Monday’s news, having thought he was already dead.
Hurley is convinced that whoever helped him shared his sovereign citizen beliefs, including that they are not subject to government authority.
“No reasonable person down there [in Porepunkah] would have supported him, only because of the horrendous nature of the crime. And… he’s a bit of a loner. So it would have been someone who shared his sympathies.”
He is also convinced that the tip-off which led police to the hideout would not have come from his peers in the sovereign citizen movement. “They hate the police and they’re not going to assist them.”
Ultimately, Hurley says he believe Freeman was never going to surrender: “Being captured alive, that would be the ultimate humiliation and betrayal to him as a person. For the duration of the time he was at large, he was symbolically giving the middle finger to the police all over Australia.”
In an interview with Nova radio this week, Bush hinted some of these questions may long go unanswered.
It’s still early days in terms of the investigation into who may have aided Freeman, he said.
He admitted police had “obtained information” about where Freeman was hiding, but emphasised that “we can’t go into how”.
No one had claimed the A$1m (£525,000; $709,000) reward for information about the fugitive, Bush said, before stressing that anything in relation to the money and how police had found Freeman was “absolutely confidential”.
He added: “I’m quite sure we’ll never be sharing those details.”