As he stood silently facing the waves on the Bondi shoreline, arm in arm with nearly 1,000 other lifesavers, Lockie Cook let himself feel the pain of the community’s most traumatic week in living memory.

“I feel like that guard’s just dropping,” he said.

Surf lifesavers gathered in their hundreds on Saturday morning to observe two minutes’ silence and remember those killed in Sunday’s attack on a Hanukah festival.

Babies, grandparents, neighbours and schoolmates clad in red-and-yellow uniforms held each other, forming a line stretching from the crescent-shaped beach’s northern edge toward its southern tip.

Lockie Cook (centre) stands with other volunteer lifeguards on Bondi beach. Photograph: Andrew Quilty

Nestled between members of the beach’s north and central clubs stood lifesavers who were there on Sunday evening – including Cook and his four-year-old son, who he had sheltered when the north Bondi club end-of-year party was interrupted by gunfire and screams.

When the shooting stopped, Cook ran to the homes of other club members to tell their families they were alive and saving the lives of others.

“The big thing that’s come out of this is just how much this community means to me,” he said.

“This is our church … It’s just important we reconnect and really heal.”

At 8.15am, the two minutes’ silence was announced by a man at the beach’s central lifeguard post, behind which lie rows of flowers.

“Two minutes can be a very long time but please look within,” he said.

“Hold hands with the person next to you, close your eyes and think about the families affected so we can grow back stronger for this community.”

Lifesavers looked down or to the horizon as locals, beachgoers and dignitaries watched on. All that could be heard were waves on the shore, a lone dog’s bark and a whirring rescue helicopter, which flew along the shore as the silence lifted.

Community members observe two minutes’ silence. Photograph: Andrew Quilty

Friends and families slowly turned to embrace each other and applaud their colleagues at the opposite end of the beach as cheers rose from the watching crowd.

This was just the latest instance of the lifesavers working to unite the community this week, said one man, a Jewish member of the north club and a first responder on Sunday.

“Today I just feel the love and support,” said the man, who asked not to be named.

At 42 years of age, he has lived at Bondi nearly all his life. He joined the swim on Monday and has worked to reclaim the beach as his own in the week since.

“It was like taking ownership back, it’s cathartic,” he said.

Gene Ross, a longtime lifesaving teacher, spent the moments’ silence standing by his son, recently qualified, reflecting on the unity his club had shown every day since Sunday.

“Choosing to do the attack here … invited Australia to come and support the [Jewish] people.”

‘We’re here for everybody and that’s the ethos of surf livesaving.’ Photograph: Andrew Quilty

Hundreds of lifesavers laughed and cried together as they walked back towards their clubs and through the park where their colleagues saved lives on Sunday.

Dozens more stayed on the shore, ready to come to the aid of people returning to the water.

“We’re here for everybody and that’s the ethos of surf livesaving,” Ross said.

“That’s what we do as lifesavers: we run to the danger.”

In Australia, support is available at Beyond Blue on 1300 22 4636, Lifeline on 13 11 14, and Griefline on 1300 845 745. In the UK, the charity Mind is available on 0300 123 3393. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.org