As Dezi Freeman’s loved ones try to piece back together their shattered lives, one haunting question continues to torment them after his violent death.

Why – when police spent three hours negotiating with the fugitive at the remote Walwa property on Monday – was no one from his family called in to help?

Mali Freeman and her eldest son Koah had spent seven months believing that the father-of-three had already taken his own life. They were blindsided to learn he had been alive just hours away, only to be shot dead in a hail of bullets.

The family have been left wondering whether hearing their voices another time would have convinced Freeman to surrender.

‘No one called them until it was over,’ a close friend told Daily Mail.

‘Obviously, asking them for help was never part of the police plan, because they would’ve had to have been picked up ahead of time and prepared for it.

‘You can’t just land that sort of responsibility on someone out of the blue.’

Up to eight officers from Victoria Police’s Special Operations Group returned fire after Freeman shot at them twice, bringing to an end Australia’s largest ever tactical police operation.

The compound on a supposedly abandoned farm at Walwa, in Victoria’s north-east, where wanted fugitive Dezi Freeman had a fiery showdown with police

Freeman’s wife Mali (left) was blindsided by the news her husband had been alive for months 

Dezi Freeman’s family are still trying to piece together their shattered lives, but one question continues to haunt them 

Those closest to Freeman won’t know whether the deadly standoff could have ended differently.

They are left with only questions, like whether a single phone call to his wife, son or brother may have been enough to break the deadlock.

In fact, Freeman’s close friend, Bruce Evans, who claimed he was in almost daily contact with the killer before he went on the run, had even previously volunteered to help with any future negotiations. 

The specific details of active police negotiations are generally kept confidential for public safety reasons, however, Australian policing protocols do refer to engaging family members during crisis situations.

Negotiators are trained to manage communications with next-of-kin and anyone who may be able to assist in hostile environments, often by establishing what is called a dedicated ‘communication cell’.

In this case, however, police appear to have decided against involving anyone outside their specialist operations teams.

In the weeks after Freeman went on the run from his Porepunkah home on August 26, his son Koah admitted he’d resigned himself to the belief that his father was, in all likelihood, already dead.

Then, on February 2, Victoria Police announced they too strongly believed Dezi had taken his own life just hours after he killed two police officers – senior constable Vadim De Waart-Hottart and detective leading senior constable Neal Thompson.

Graffiti is seen on a sign on Murray River Rd in Thologolong near Walwa

Koah Freeman previously admitted he  thought his dad was already dead

Police appear to have decided against involving anyone outside their specialist operations teams

Freeman was described by those who knew him as an experienced bushman who knew the Victorian high country like the back of his hand 

The coroner is leading an independent investigation into the saga

Police cited a single gunshot reportedly heard a short time after Freeman fled into the bush with a stolen police weapon.

Pursuing that theory, more than 100 officers and volunteers launched a fresh five day search of a specific area of Mount Buffalo National Park hoping to recover his body.

But by this stage, Dezi was already 188km away, having just survived a ferocious bushfire that ripped through the Upper Murray region .

It was in late January, once the fires had finally been brought under control, that crews first began assessing the damage.

Daily Mail has been told this was when ‘unusual activity’ was first noticed at the farm where he was hiding, which had been marked as ‘unoccupied’ during the evacuations.

Police have since confirmed Freeman was then under surveillance for weeks before officers decided to move in.

Those close to the family believe that lengthy delay was a deliberate tactic, designed to identify whether anyone may have been harbouring or aiding him.

However, they remain convinced he was acting alone.

Unusual activity was detected at the farm where Freeman was hiding after the Walwa fires 

Those closest to Freeman remain convinced he was acting alone (pictured is his wife Mali)

‘People seem to think Dezi being a skilled bushman and a survivalist is more of a hobby, like bushwalking or camping,’ the friend said.

‘But he has lived off-grid and off the land many times before for months on end.

‘This was no different to him.’