Vitkovic burst through the security doors,wounded a man and a woman,then turned his gun on a young woman sitting behind her desk. He paused. Then he moved the barrel to the left and killed two other women,Julie Faye McBean,20,and Nancy Avigone,18. A man in the only corner office on the open-plan 12th floor,Warren David Spencer,29,also died.

Vitkovic ran down the stairs to the 11th floor,firing indiscriminately,and charged into the computer training centre where Michael Francis McGuire,38,was near the coffee machine preparing to end the day's work and go home for his son's fifth birthday party. He was shot at point-blank range.

As Mr McGuire fell in a pool of blood,other bullets ripped through the panelling behind him,one gouging a big chunk of plaster from the wall surrounding the lift well.

What workers next door,separated by simple office partitioning,were thinking as the carbine roared can only be guessed,but Vitkovic was soon among them firing,wounding some and advancing on Marianne Jacoba Van Ewyk,38,Catherine Mary Dowling,28,and Rodney Gerard Brown,32,sitting at their desks in the corner of the office.

About 15 people were working in the finance and management section when Vitkovic entered. A few had already"flexed off"or gone home early in anticipation of the traffic jam caused by the rail strike.

This is one of the more high-powered offices in the Victorian headquarters of Australia Post. It is the place where short-term money market investments are made,where men and women staff tend to be highly qualified professionals who use computers the way most people use pens. A close-knit office,they were to go to the Empress of China Restaurant for the Christmas luncheon on 22 December.

The carbine roared. The two women and the man fell. Three other people were wounded.

The acting assistant manager of the section (who has asked not to be named) came out of his office next to the killing corner and grabbed Vitkovic from behind. There was a struggle. One of the wounded women,Rosemary Spiteri,25,grabbed the rifle and hid it in a refrigerator.

The killer and the assistant manager continued to struggle over the bloody bodies. In the melee,a rubber plant was wrenched roughly and as the killer smashed through the shadow-glass window 40 metres above Queen Street,cutting himself deeply,shards of darkened glass mingled with blood-splattered leases on the narrow parapet.

The pair fought. Another man joined in,trying to restrain the bleeding murderer. But Vitkovic clambered along the narrow ledge,finally kicking free from the hands that reached out to save him.

There was nothing but air below. The gunman began his death drop. His blood sprayed the building,tracing his descent.

First published inThe Age on December 10,1987