Police say they will come down hard on anyone who helped Dezi Freeman, the fugitive who was shot dead by police yesterday after a massive seven-month manhunt.

“We have no sympathy or empathy for anyone who’s harboured a police killer inside the state of Victoria,” Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Mike Bush said yesterday, following the death of Freeman after a three-hour stand-off.

Investigations are continuing at the scene of Freeman’s death in Victoria’s north-east, after multiple police officers fired at the sovereign citizen when he emerged from a shipping container yesterday, holding a firearm hidden under what was believed to be a blanket.

Freeman fled into the bush after fatally shooting Detective Leading Senior Constable Neal Thompson and Senior Constable Vadim De Waart-Hottart at a property in Victoria’s High Country on August 26 last year.

A team of 10 officers were executing a search warrant over historical sex offences when the shooting took place. A third officer was injured.

The chief commissioner confirmed last night that the weapon being held by Freeman, who police have not yet formally identified, was a service pistol that belonged to one of the two murdered police officers.

A uniformed policeman stands speaking beneath a large tree.

Chief Commissioner Mike Bush addresses the media at the scene of yesterday’s shooting. (AAP: James Ross)

“We are yet to confirm whether or not the deceased fired shots at our officers, but as soon as we know that, we will share that information,” Chief Commissioner Bush said.

Dezi Freeman search timeline

Here is what we know about the lead-up to the fatal shooting of two police officers in Victoria’s north-east — and the months-long search for Dezi Freeman that followed.

He said Freeman’s weapon, found near his body, would need to be forensically examined to ascertain whether shots were fired from it.

The fugitive was shot at a property on Murray River Road in Thologolong, on the border with NSW, about 150 kilometres north-east of the site of the police shootings at Porepunkah.

Last night Chief Commissioner Bush said a huge focus would be on identifying anyone who helped Freeman get from Porepunkah to the property where he was found.

“The information I have at the moment is that over the last 24 hours, so as far as we can tell, there has been no-one else apart from the deceased at this property,” he said.

“But we have no doubt that other people come and go from that property. We need to speak to those people.

“We need to establish what they knew and who else has assisted the deceased and enabled them to get to where they got.”

As of yesterday police had not yet been able to locate and speak with the owner of the property where Mr Freeman died, but officers had reached out to him.

A composite image of a man in a dark police uniform and cap and an older man in a checked shirt with a dog.

Senior Constable Vadim De Waart-Hottart (left) and Detective Leading Senior Constable Neal Thompson were killed on August 26 last year. (Supplied: Victoria Police)

From video he had seen, Chief Commissioner Bush said police had acted professionally.

“He was given every opportunity to give himself up peacefully and safely,” he said.

“He didn’t take that so we deployed other tactics, which we won’t go into.

“Instead of coming out and surrendering, he came out with a firearm, at least presented it at our people.”

Late yesterday the chief commissioner said the property had been of interest for days and that it had been locked down and an examination of the scene was underway.

A dark-haired man holds his phone while standing in a tree-fringed paddock in front of a mountain range.

Dezi Freeman emerged from a building on a rural property about 5:30am and was brandishing a firearm, according to police. (Supplied)

“As you can imagine, for a serious crime scene like that, we have protocols and procedures to follow,” Chief Commissioner Bush said.

“We have to be absolutely meticulous, and that will commence this evening and carry on for the next few days.”

Police are yet to commence a thorough search of the shipping container where Freeman was hiding.

Chief Commissioner Bush said the state coroner had visited yesterday and an independent investigation was taking place, supported by the Professional Standards Command and the police’s Homicide Investigations team.

Police Association of Victoria secretary Wayne Gatt spoke of the work of the hundreds, even thousands, of responders who had been involved in the long search for Freeman.

A man with short, grey hair wears a business shirt while standing on a grassed area near a footpath.

Wayne Gatt says anyone who helped the fugitive during the long manhunt “should be worried”. (ABC News)

“It’s one thing to investigate a serious crime,” he said yesterday.

“It’s another thing entirely to carry the hopes of an entire police force on your shoulders, know that you’re carrying the love and the concerns of family members of your colleagues that have been murdered at work.”

Mr Gatt spoke only briefly about Freeman, saying: “I don’t think too much of him. He’s dead today.”

“The memory of cowards fades quickly, but with heroes it lives on forever,” he added.

“Neal and Vadim, we’ll remember them forever. We’ll remember what they gave and what they did, and that’s as it should be.”

A pair of SUVs parked near some trees and a group of police on a country property.

Fugitive Dezi Freeman was shot dead in Thologolong on Monday. (AAP: James Ross)

Mr Gatt said anybody who had helped Freeman during the past seven months “should be worried”.

“They should be concerned. They should know that the dogged determination that led to today’s events will persist,” he said.

“Our members will chase every rabbit down every burrow to make sure that anybody that’s supported criminal activity of this nature is brought to justice.”