Officers arrive to find a 41-year-old woman suffering a stab wound at the Hotel CBD on the corner of King and York Streets.
A short time later, three members of the public detain the 21-year-old attacker, before he's arrested by police.
* Police investigate whether the body is linked to the earlier stabbing.
Police say the Marayong man has no links to terrorist organisations but does have some 'ideologies in relation to terrorism'.
Ney was allegedly carrying material 'about other crimes of mass casualties and mass deaths around the world', the commissioner says.
Detectives conduct a thorough search of Ney's western Sydney home.
It is believed the woman who died in the attack was a sex worker and was known to Ney.
A spokesman for the city's St Vincent hospital said the 41-year-old woman injured in Ney's alleged attack was in a stable condition.
Dramatic footage showed a man, wearing a grey hooded jumper and holding a large knife, jumping on top of a Mercedes while screaming 'shoot me in the head'.
Brave witnesses were able to tackle the man and pin his head down with a milk crate until police arrived and arrested him as hundreds of workers gathered.
In other footage, the alleged attacker was seen running down the pavement and at one point kicked a parked bicycle at a member of the public.
Police praised on Tuesday evening the civilians, fire fighters and ambulance staff for preventing 'what could have been a much worse situation'.
NSW Police said the woman's body was found in the unit on Clarence Street at 3.15pm, with a witness saying it was found on the building's fourth floor.
He added authorities had little doubt the death of the woman in the hotel and the stabbing spree on the street were linked.
'All the information we have at hand would link these two crimes,' he said.
Superintendent Gavin Wood: "A number of members of the public physically restrained the offender. They were significantly brave people. To approach a person with a mindset (that) this person did, with clear evidence of a stabbing previously, these people are heroes."
Witness Paul O'Shaughnessy: "My brother, he was the hero. He got a grip of him, along with another guy we don't know, and put a crate on his head. He was just mumbling religious things."
Prime Minister Scott Morrison: "The violent attack that took place in Sydney this afternoon is deeply concerning. The attacker is now in police custody following the brave actions of those who were present at the scene and were able to able to restrain him."
Federal Labor leader Anthony Albanese: "The details aren't fully known yet but we congratulate the NSW Police on the work that they've done and amazingly brave bystanders who took action to apprehend this man."
"Very scary visuals, the fact that people were putting their own lives on the line by taking action was an act of incredible bravery and I certainly pay tribute to them."
NSW Police Commissioner Mick Fuller: "All the evidence we have at hand would link these two crimes (the killing and stabbing)."
"There was certainly information found on him about other crimes of mass casualties and mass deaths around the world."
NSW Police minister David Elliott: "If you want to behave in this sort of manner ... be aware, it's not just the police that'll respond, it's the citizens, it's the firies, it's the ambos, it's anybody else who thinks their city is going to be given that sort of disrespect."
Officers on Tuesday evening were searching the alleged attacker's home in Blacktown.
Premier Gladys Berejiklian, who is currently in London, said her thoughts were with the deceased.
'I want to acknowledge the very brave passersby who obviously tried to intervene and our thoughts are with the victims and everyone who witnessed this horrific incident,' she said.
'Do you know how many people you just stabbed, you dog? You just stabbed a chick, mate, in broad daylight,' one of the men was heard screaming during the arrest.
Moments before the attacker was arrested, another woman was found inside the Hotel CBD with a stab wound and taken to hospital in a stable condition.
A painter working on a mural near where the man was arrested witnessed him charging down the street with a 'big kitchen knife' with five or six people in close pursuit.
The heroic bystanders included two British brothers - one of whom played professional soccer for English club Bury.
Luke O'Shaughnessy watched as the incident unfolded before then subduing the crazed attacker by putting a milk crate over his head.
'It was terrifying mate, it was really bad,' his brother Paul told Daily Mail Australia.
Witness Jess Warren, 28, said she was was having lunch at the Regiment CBD cafe when the knife man was finally arrested.
Police said residents of the Hotel CBD unit block will not be able to return to their homes for several hours while forensic police work at the scene.
One tenant in the building said no-one was being allowed into the building and had been told to wait a 'couple of hours' before being let back in.
'I just walked here from my office, and they're not letting anyone in,' she said.
'Maybe I will just head back there. I'll have to call my [real estate] agent in case they tell him something.'
She told
Daily Mail Australia fire and rescue workers wielding an axe and a crowbar, and a few civilians, two brandishing chairs, had given chase before finally restraining him.
'One of the guys who was chasing pushed him in the back, then as he was falling the firies got him in the legs, and then they pinned him down with the chairs,' she said.
'Then they just sat on him until the cops came.'
'People couldn't believe it, then everyone started standing on their chairs to see over the crowd.'
Another witness Megan Hales said there was a group of people running away from the knife man but it wasn't clear if he was chasing after them, or running away from the group that was trying to stop him.
One witness who lived at the apartment block next door told The Sydney Morning Herald he heard a woman screaming inside Clarence House apartments and officers then struggled to enter the building.
'The officer and the young man tried to gain the attention of those inside by pressing on multiple apartment buzzers.
Soon after a young woman came to the door, a mobile phone in one hand. Visibly distressed, the woman appealed to the officer: 'you've got to help me.'
'He was trying to smash a driver-side window of a random car with the knife. He was unsuccessful.
'People were chasing him by that stage. There was fireys chasing him with axes and he went around the corner.'
Adrian Papaianni was walking along Clarence Street when when he suddenly heard terrified screams.
'There were a stack of people running down Barrack Place saying that there was a guy with a knife,' he told news.com.au.
'I ran into the Woolworths and people inside got them to shut the glass doors. I was feeling OK until I saw a mother crying with her baby in her hands, trying to get into the Woolies.
'Police started arriving about a minute later and started to chase him.'
An Uber driver said the knifeman jumped on the bonnet of his car with a knife in his hand and blood on his shirt.
He told 2GB: 'I was next to a fire truck in York Street and he jumped on the bonnet of my car. He crashed across the bonnet and had a knife in his hand.
'There was blood on his shirt. People had their phones out and there was a police'.
A woman at the scene told Daily Mail Australia: 'A crazy man is running around Wynyard with a knife stabbing people.
'My work colleague's boyfriend was standing right next to the guy who was stabbed. Has the world gone mad?'
Prime Minister Scott Morrison has described the incident as 'deeply disturbing' while commending the bravery over the bystanders who stepped in to help.
'The violent attack that took place in Sydney this afternoon is deeply concerning. The attacker is now in police custody following the brave actions of those who were present at the scene and were able to able to restrain him,' he shared on Twitter.
'The motivation for this attack has not yet been determined as Police are continuing with their enquiries. Any further offical information will be provided by the New South Wales Police, who are keeping us appraised through our agencies, including details of casualties.'
Onlookers filmed a man being dragged away by police about half an hour after the incident began to unfold.
A number of crime scenes were established and a number of road closures are in place, which is believed to have significant impact on traffic and public transport this afternoon, police said in a statement.
The Transport Management Centre urged motorists to avoid King Street.
'All lanes of King Street are closed from Clarence Street to York Street. Traffic in the area is heavy, and motorists are advised to use an alternative route,' they said.
'Buses are also diverting away from King Street and are using Clarence Street, Market Street, Kent Street and Erskine Street then returning to Clarence Street.
'Emergency services are on site, and traffic crews are responding.'
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