A huge manhunt is under way for a “heavily armed” male suspect after two Australian police officers were shot dead and one injured in an ambush at a property in a small rural town in Victoria state.

Police described the situation in Porepunkah in the Australian Alps – some 300km (186 miles) north-east of Melbourne – as an “active incident” with hundreds of personnel deployed to find the suspect.

Officers were attacked as 10 of them attended the property to serve an arrest warrant, which Australian media said was for historical sex offences.

Police say the suspect escaped into the bush alone and on foot after the shooting. Officers are still trying to locate the man’s wife and children.

Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Mike Bush said 10 officers went to the property on Tuesday at about 10:30 local time (00:30 GMT).

He described officers being fired upon by a heavily armed offender, saying two colleagues – a 59-year-old detective and a 35-year-old senior constable – were “murdered in cold blood”.

A third officer was seriously injured and airlifted to hospital.

The state police chief said all the available resources were being used in the manhunt for a “dangerous” suspect, and urged locals to stay indoors.

“[Our] priority is to arrest him and bring safety and security to this community,” the officer said.

He added that the suspect was believed to have been on his own at the time of the shooting, and that police “are still looking to locate his partner and two children, but he was not seen to head into the bush with them”.

Mr Bush said the fact so many officers were attending, highlighted that they knew the risks – and urged the gunman to give himself up.

The police chief did not confirm the nature of the raid that officers were executing at the property.

Footage from the scene earlier on Tuesday showed dozens of police deployed to Porepunkah and a police helicopter circling in the area.

The town, home to about 1,000 people, is part of the Alpine Shire local government area.

In a statement, Alpine Shire Council Mayor Sarah Nicholas paid tribute to the officers, extending “thoughts, love and unwavering” support to their families.

“Today has been a day of deep sorrow and shock for our community… We are grieving together,” she said.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Victoria Premier Jacinta Allan both praised the police officers for their bravery.

Local resident Emily White told the BBC she and her guests had been sheltering in a caravan park that she owned.

“I think reality really set in – that this is a really, really horrible situation,” Ms White said.

“We’re such a small community, and we’ll leave our cars unlocked, and we’ll leave our front doors open. Nothing like this ever happens.”

Local media are naming the suspect as Dezi Freeman – who claims to be a “sovereign citizen” – which refers to someone who falsely believes they are not subject to Australian laws and government authority.

Called SovCits for short, these people have been a presence in the nation for decades, according to the Australian Federal Police (AFP).

The police say they are mostly harmless but there has been a resurgence of the beliefs in recent years – in part fuelled by mistrust in authorities which has been exacerbated by the Covid pandemic.

In its 2023 briefing note, the AFP said the movement had “an underlying capacity to inspire violence”.

Gun crime is relatively rare in Australia, which has some of the world’s strictest gun regulations.

But similarities are being drawn with an ambush attack in 2022, when two police officers were killed at a rural property in Queensland state.