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Crowds poured from Westfield shopping centre in Bondi as the terrifying incident began just after 3pm.
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One eyewitness was near in a cafe with his two small children when he saw a man "stabbing people indiscriminately".
Eyewitnesses have described scenes of chaos as they fled a busy Sydney shopping mall where a knifeman killed six people and wounded several others.
"It was insanity," one visibly upset woman said, as she described seeing a wounded woman lying on the floor.
Crowds poured from Westfield shopping centre in Bondi as the terrifying incident began just after 3pm.
One eyewitness was near in a cafe with his two small children when he saw a man "stabbing people indiscriminately".
"It was carnage," the witness, who did not want to be named told ABC News Australia.
Police say the knifeman had visited the mall at 15:10 local time before returning minutes later to begin his rampage.
It is not yet clear why he attacked people in the shopping centre, but police say terrorism has not been ruled out as a motive.
The attack was only ended when a female police officer - who had been on duty nearby - confronted the man. He raised his knife towards her and she shot him, police said.
Another unnamed eyewitness said he heard "people yelling and screaming, running" and began following behind the officer.
He said the man, armed with a "big blade" started "floating towards us and all I heard was 'put it down' and then she shot him".
"If she didn't shoot him, well, he would have kept going, he was on the rampage."
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese described the officer as a "hero".
"For all of us tonight, the devastating scenes of Bondi Junction are beyond words or understanding," he said.
'Everyone was in shock'
The Westfield mall where the attack took place is a major shopping centre in the east of Sydney's central business district and close to the famous Bondi Beach.
It is one of the biggest and most popular shopping centres in the country and like any other Saturday was packed with hundreds of people, including many and young children.
The area is home to a large proportion of Sydney's 40,000-strong Jewish community and Sydney's main synagogue, the Central, is only a short walk away.
Horrified shoppers have described their shock as the attacks unfolded.
Johnny, 33, who was visiting from the New South Wales Central Coast, said he heard a commotion while shopping and turned to see a woman and her baby being attacked.
"She was getting stabbed. Everyone was in shock [and] didn't know what to do," he said.
Nearby he thought he could make out another body on the ground, he said.
The injured woman managed to make a run for the Tommy Hilfiger store and once inside, staff quickly locked the doors, he said.
"Some of the other shoppers were using clothing and things to try and… stop the bleeding," he said.
"The baby only had a minor wound, but the lady was pretty bad… there was a lot of blood and she was panicking," he added.
"Hopefully she pulls through."
Police said one of the victims was a young child and it has been reported a nine-month-old baby was injured in the attack.
Rashdan Aqashah, who working in clothing store COS, said he saw a man holding a pole confront the attacker on an escalator.
"I saw this one guy fighting with the killer. He was holding the pole, trying to throw a pole at the escalator," the 19-year-old said.
Mr Aqashah said "everyone started running" when the attack began unfolding.
"I grabbed my manager to shut the store door. It was just in front of our store," he said.
Vernon Michael told Reuters he was in a store when he heard someone saying "run, run, run, someone's been stabbed".
"We're just grateful cause like literally two minutes before that, we were sitting right where it happened, where the first lady got stabbed," he said.
Another eyewitness told Reuters news agency they saw someone lying down injured and were looking to see what was going on.
"Then we saw all these people running towards us and then we heard a shot and my husband dragged us into the Adairs shop and then we got the lady there trying to lock the doors and then she couldn't lock the front door so we went in the office which was all locked and then we were in there until the police came to get us."