A 14-hour police stand-off near Geelong has ended peacefully with two children being released and a man taken into custody.
The two children had been caught up in the incident when the man, believed to be their father, barricaded himself inside a Gibbs Street home in Newcomb and wouldn’t let them leave the property.
The stand-off, which began around 11.30pm on Saturday, dragged on for hours as police negotiators tried to convince him to release the children and surrender.
Police blocked off the entire street, urged residents to stay away, and called in heavily-armed officers when it couldn’t be ruled out if the man was armed.
A Facebook user in Newcomb had written public posts about the ongoing “siege”, stating he was armed and ready to die, local radio station Bay FM reported, but police did not confirm if the posts were genuine.
The two children were finally released from the home just after 1pm on Sunday with the man taken into custody a short time later, a police spokeswoman said.
No one was injured.
