Police Association of Victoria secretary Wayne Gatt delivered a powerful message following news that Dezi Freeman (pictured below) had been gunned down.

‘Today, we won’t reflect on the loss of a coward,’ he said.

‘We will remember the courage and bravery of our fallen members and every officer who has doggedly pursued this outcome for the community.

‘They have worked tirelessly. During the emergency, in the operation that followed and the months thereafter, members across the state have devoted themselves to this singular pursuit.’

Gatt said the death of Freeman marks a ‘step forward’ for police, the community and the families of slain officers Detective Leading Senior Constable Neal Thompson and Senior Constable Vadim de Waart-Hottart.

‘It doesn’t lessen the trauma, give back the futures that were callously stolen, or lessen the collective fear and grief that this tragic event has instilled in police and the wider public,’ he said.

‘Days like today offer a sobering reminder that policing happens while you sleep, when the media spotlight on an investigation dims and when everything seems lost and forgotten.

‘RIP Vadim and Neal. Today, we remember you.’

Chief Commissioner Mike Bush has addressed reporters on the shooting of a man believed to be fugitive Dezi Freeman, but refused to confirm his identity.

‘I confirm that this morning Victoria Police, as a result of an operation in the north-east of Victoria, fatally shot a man,’ he said.

‘Whilst it’s being reported that person is Desmond Freeman, we have to run through a very formal identification process.

‘So Victoria Police at this stage will not confirm the identity of that person.’

Commissioner Bush added that there is ‘lots to be done’ in the investigation.

‘Everything I know at this point tells me this shooting was justified,’ he said.

‘The very first people to be made aware of the outcome of this operation were the families of the officers tragically killed on 26 August, and all of the members that were involved on that day.

‘Should it be confirmed that the deceased is Freeman, this brings closure to what was a tragic and terrible event.’

The epic hunt for Dezi Freeman saw police search more than 100 homes and properties, as well as steep, rocky terrain around Mount Buffalo in northeast Victoria.

Following the news that the 56-year-old fugitive had been shot dead, locals said they felt relief that the saga was over.

‘When you’ve got an unresolved event like that, when somebody is clearly still being searched for, it’s going to keep coming up,’ Bright Brewery owner Scott Brandon told ABC News.

‘So I think it is a relief just to have an end to all of that.’

Horse rider Steve, from Bright, said the hunt for Freeman had left him and his friends on alert during every trip up Mount Buffalo.

‘After such a long period of uncertainty, riding up the mountains, never knowing what’s there, what’s not,’ he told ABC Radio Melbourne.

‘One of the riders said to me this morning … (they were) always thinking about the smell in the air, even as to whether there was a body there.

‘The people of Porepunkah have been hit really hard and it would be wonderful, despite everything else that’s going on, to see everybody return and give the town the economic boost it deserves.’

Fugitive Dezi Freeman has been shot dead by heavily-armed police in northeast Victoria after seven months on the run.

Freeman, 56, was shot shortly after 8.30am on Monday after he was reportedly found inside a shipping container near Walwa, about 188km northeast of Porepunkah, where he went missing on August 26.

Daily Mail Australia understands police tried to negotiate with the sovereign citizen before he was killed.

Police had received a tip-off ‘from someone close to him’ before locating him.