Hassan Khalif Shire Ali was flagged as potentially violent by counter-terror police a week before he launched a deadly knife attack in Melbourne's CBD.
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Shire Ali was a "national security person of interest" but didn't meet the criteria for a deradicalisation program.
He killed beloved Melbourne icon and Pellegrini's Espresso Bar co-owner Sisto Malaspina, and injured two others, before being shot by police on November 9, 2018.
Seven days before, Victoria Police's counter-terror Security Intelligence Unit flagged Shire Ali as potentially violent and said he may be carrying a weapon.
An inquest is looking at factors including whether the 30-year-old, who died in hospital, was radicalised and if the Bourke Street attack was terrorism.
Police previously didn't consider him to be radicalised. Shire Ali wasn't a practising Muslim, didn't maintain a lifestyle consistent with extremist ideology, and smoked cannabis.
He tried to leave the country for Somalia in 2015 but was stopped at the airport. ISIS-related material was found on his phone and his passport was cancelled.
"I would say he was misinformed and on a trajectory that could be concerning," one officer, who cannot be identified, told the inquest on Wednesday.
In the lead-up to his attack, Shire Ali was suspected of stalking a woman, a hit-and-run and attacks involving a baseball bat and weapon.
At one point, he was pulled over for speeding but the officers were seemingly unaware counter-terror police wanted to speak to him.
They had planned to arrest him the day after the Bourke Street rampage.
The inquest is due to continue on Thursday.
Australian Associated Press