Carrying flowers of her favourite colour, hundreds of mourners descended on Sydney's Freshwater Beach in memory of US shooting victim Justine Damond.
The silent vigil for the 40-year-old, remembered as a "bright, intelligent and infectious" woman, began just before sunrise on Wednesday.
More World News Videos
Emotional vigil for Justine
Family and friends have gathered to remember Justine Damond who was shot and killed by a US police officer, while the PM says the government is pushing for answers.
It came just days after Ms Damond, who grew up on the northern beaches, was shot dead by police responding to her 911 call about a disturbance near her home in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on Saturday night, local time.
Her death has sent shockwaves of grief and disbelief throughout the community of Fulton, where she lived with her fiance Don Damond and stepson Zach Damond.
It has equally devastated her friends and family in Sydney.
Hundreds of people who knew the meditation teacher and spiritual healer flocked to Freshwater Beach with candles and flowers in the early hours of Wednesday.
Ms Damond lived just around the corner from the picturesque beach before moving to America to live with her husband-to-be in 2015.
The former Manly High School student graduated from the University of Sydney in 2002 before finding a passion in neuroscience and meditation.
![Heartbroken: Justine Damond's brother, Jason Ruszczyk with his wife, Katarina Ruszczyk, at the water's edge at ...](http://web.archive.org./web/20170721021201im_/https://www.fairfaxstatic.com.au/content/dam/images/g/x/d/z/p/w/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gxdyxr.png/1500580966177.jpg)
She ran workshops in this field through northern beaches community group Soul Sessions before moving to the US, where she continued her work.
As the clouds over the ocean turned vivid colours of orange and pink, Ms Damond's father, John Ruszczyk and his wife Maryan Heffernan, arrived holding flowers before embracing their daughter's friends.
![Justine Damond's family, seated, were joined by hundreds of mourners on Freshwater Beach.](http://web.archive.org./web/20170721021201im_/https://www.fairfaxstatic.com.au/content/dam/images/g/x/d/z/x/y/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gxdyxr.png/1500420355654.jpg)
The sat embracing each other in front of a love heart shaped out of candles in the sand.
Others sat cross-legged in the sand as Ms Damond's friend Matt Omo played the didgeridoo and a gong as the sun rose.
![Justine Damond's father, John Ruszczyk and his wife Maryan Heffernan, at the water's edge at Freshwater Beach during a ...](http://web.archive.org./web/20170721021201im_/https://www.fairfaxstatic.com.au/content/dam/images/g/x/d/z/c/x/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gxdyxr.png/1500420355654.jpg)
With arms around each other, Ms Damond's brother Jason and his wife Katarina walked down to the shoreline and placed the flowers in the ocean.
They were followed by Ms Damond's father and then by hundreds of her emotional friends.
![People pay their respects to Justine Damond at Freshwater Beach on Wednesday morning.](http://web.archive.org./web/20170721021201im_/https://www.fairfaxstatic.com.au/content/dam/images/g/x/d/z/y/3/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gxdyxr.png/1500431124996.jpg)
By 7.30am, dozens of pink flowers were strewn over the sand, some carried out to sea by the lapping waves.
For reasons her family and friends still don't know, a Minneapolis police officer opened fire on Ms Damond, who was unarmed and wearing her pyjamas.
![Justine Damond's father John Ruszczyk and his wife, Maryan Heffernen (white top), embrace at the water's edge at ...](http://web.archive.org./web/20170721021201im_/https://www.fairfaxstatic.com.au/content/dam/images/g/x/d/z/i/6/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gxdyxr.png/1500420355654.jpg)
Her fiance said she had made an emergency call earlier in the night to report what she thought was a sexual assault. She went outside her home to investigate when she was met by a police car.
Minneapolis media reported that officer Mohamed Noor, a man with only two years' experience in the police force, opened fire from the passenger seat.
![Justine Damond called the police herself, concerned about a disturbance behind her house.](http://web.archive.org./web/20170721021201im_/https://www.fairfaxstatic.com.au/content/dam/images/g/x/c/j/g/4/image.related.articleLeadNarrow.300x0.gxdyxr.png/1500593500223.jpg)
Ms Damond had approached the police car from the driver's side window, the media reported.
A US medical examiner ruled her death a homicide on Monday as many questions remained unanswered as to why Mr Noor fired his weapon, killing Ms Damond.
On Tuesday outside his northern beaches home, Mr Ruszczyk described his daughter as a "beacon for all of us".
"We thought yesterday was our worst nightmare but we awoke to the ugly truth and it hurt even more," said Mr Ruszczyk, supported by his son and daughter-in-law, on Tuesday.
"Justine, our daughter, was so special to us and to so many others.
"We only ask that the light of justice shine down on the circumstances of her death."