Days before the third anniversary of the callous ambush that claimed six lives, the family of Constables Matthew Arnold, 26, and Rachel McCrow, 29, are reeling after the Queensland coroner delivered the final report into the horrific attack.
After sitting through five weeks of confronting testimony during the 2024 inquest, the family hoped that Coroner Terry Ryan's findings would usher in change for frontline police.
Instead, the family and friends shook their heads in disbelief as Mr Ryan found the attack was not an act of terror, but that of a psychotic trio suffering a twisted, shared delusion.
"Matt and Rachel's lives were precious," said Judy McCrow, mother of Rachel.
"Their deaths - under such horrible, brutal circumstances - were preventable. Because we love and miss them so much, we will continue to forever grieve and live shattered lives."
Outside court, their carefully prepared statement was rewritten to express their overwhelming grief and disappointment with the findings.
"We thank the coroner for his work," Ms McCrow said on behalf of both families.
"Like us, he was forced to watch the harrowing videos and listen to every disturbing and disgusting detail.
"We hoped it was enough to guide urgently required reforms.
"Any coronial recommendation must prevent a tragedy like this from happening again, and we are initially disappointed with the coronial recommendations, but we need time to read, process and respond to the findings."
Key recommendations include the development of drones to improve police safety and a mandatory health assessment for weapons licence applicants.
"We believe that it is vitally important that the recommendations are immediately implemented, not just in Queensland but right across Australia," Ms McCrow said.
"Costs should not be a limiting factor ... how much will it cost in terms of financial and psychological trauma-related factors if more police lose their lives?"
"Every police officer now and into the future must be protected and must have the skills and ability to keep others safe."
Ms McCrow said the family would channel their grief and advocate for change.
"There will never come a day, hour, minute, or second that we will stop thinking about Matt and Rachel," she said.
"We plead with authorities not to forget Matt and Rachel ... to ensure they didn't die in vain."
It was a plea Deputy Commissioner Cheryl Scanlon was quick to honour outside the coroner's court.
"Today is obviously a very important day for the families and those lives have been lost," Ms Scanlon said.
"It was a dark day for the Queensland Police Service ... and we will never lose sight of that and the loss of our officers and a member of the community."
