An emergency situation overnight in the Townsville suburb of Kirwan has ended, with police finding a man dead inside a home this morning.
Last night shots were fired at nearby houses, a car and responding police vehicles, with a witness telling the ABC the tyres on one of the vehicles were blown out by gunfire.
Police made the emergency declaration about 9pm on Sunday and it was revoked at 6:45am Monday. Police said they entered the dwelling and found the body of a 50-year-old man.
A crime scene has been declared.
Nobody else was injured.
Last night negotiators were on the scene communicating with the male offender through a microphone speaker.
For several hours, a police drone was hovering over the cordoned-off area around Aird and Marchwood avenues.
At least a dozen police units were still at the scene on Monday morning.
Acting Chief Superintendent Chris Lawson said the officers inside police vehicles that were shot were not physically harmed.
"There is going to be mental anguish associated with that so we will have all of our support helping those officers deal with the fallout of that incident," he said.
"It's not something you expect when you turn up to work each night but it is something that can happen and we're quite well trained."
Acting Chief Superintendent Lawson said the incident had put members of the public in danger.
"It was more than a threat, there were actually shots fired last night so we made sure we locked down the place as best as we could," he said.
Police wouldn't specify what weapons were used after neighbours reported hearing a firearm being cocked.
"We haven't been able to process the scene entirely so we are not going to surmise on what may or may not have been used last night," Act Chief Superintendent Lawson said.
"That will be part of our investigation as we move forward and will be provided to the coroner in a report."
Resident recalls police cars being shot
One Kirwan resident, 23-year-old Harry, told the ABC he was evacuated from his house by the police, as he recalled the "scary" moment shots were fired in the area near his residence at 9pm on Sunday.
Harry said the shooter took aim at several police cars and blew out the tyres on at least one vehicle, which caused him to take action for his safety.
"There were some gunshots that went off out the front of my street," he said.
"At first, I thought it was just a couple of loud bangs and then I heard another gunshot go off and then the cocking of the weapons.
"You could hear the gun cock every time he shot."
Video shows the moment the gunshots were fired.
"The next minute cop cars rock up ... one or two of them gets hit," he said.
"One got hit on the front, the other got the tyres blown off.
"That's when I turned off the lights, locked all the doors and there was a cop waiting there, down the side of the house, and he was letting me know what's going on and that is when I realised there is a dude going nuts out there with a gun."
He was evacuated by police, who then began to negotiate with the alleged shooter.
Police had blocked off an area with boundaries encompassing Dalrymple Road, Kern Brothers Drive, Sandstone Drive, Golf Links Drive and Elphinstone Drive.
Residents within the exclusion zone were urged to stay inside their properties and lock their doors.
A police command centre was established in the car park of a hotel on Kern Brothers Drive.
Ethical Standards Command will now review the operation.
