While armed and holed up in a Glenroy bungalow on March 2, 2013, Antonio Loguancio had several calls with Nine News chief-of-staff Kate McGrath, which prevented police negotiators from talking with the gunman.

The calls lasted for more than an hour, including one of 54 minutes.

A 2015 inquest was told that at one point a cameraman filmed Ms McGrath on the telephone to Loguancio, but that Nine never broadcast the footage.

Loguancio, 40, a convicted rapist wanted by police over allegations he assaulted his partner and breached court orders, fatally shot himself about 2pm on March 3, 2013, having kept police at bay for 43 hours.

Coroner Audrey Jamieson on Thursday said reporting about Loguancio before and during the siege demonstrated "the capacity of the media to disrupt an active police operation", and that a review by the Australian Press Council was warranted.

Ms Jamieson found Loguancio was distressed and agitated by his portrayal in the media, which included use of the nickname "Mad Dog".

The coroner accepted Loguancio contacted Nine News and that Ms McGrath alerted police to her contact with the gunman during the siege.

"Nevertheless, it ultimately amounted to an opportunistic exploitation of a significant police incident, executed by Ms McGrath without any consideration for the fact that she may be compromising police endeavours to have Tony surrender himself," Ms Jamieson told the Coroners Court.

Ms McGrath gave evidence at the inquest and said she was never told by police not to contact Loguancio after the initial call, and insisted she was advised to "stay on message" by police.

However, Ms Jamieson said she attached more weight to the evidence of a police negotiator who told the inquest he was sure he asked the journalist not to have any contact.

The coroner said Loguancio's unauthorised calls - he had two mobile phones with him in the bungalow - limited the police's "already precarious ability to engage and negotiate" with him.

The inquest heard police had Loguancio's friend and his partner call him during the siege, but any rapport negotiators established was lost when another woman, Adriana Corera, rang Loganucio to say his partner had been at the scene for some time, which made the gunman think he had been tricked by police.

The decision of police to involve members of the public in negotiations should be a decision made only by police, Ms Jamieson said.

The inability of police to control who Loguancio was talking to "was the most significant impediment to achieving the desired outcome of a lawful arrest of Tony, by him peacefully surrendering himself", she said.

Ms Jamieson said while Ms McGrath's involvement was inappropriate and disruptive, it had no bearing on Loguancio's death, as he was given every opportunity to surrender peacefully before he took his own life.

The inquest also examined the police decision to hold a media conference on February 28, 2013, which aimed to encourage anyone with information about Loguancio to contact investigators.

Some detectives opposed the decision to hold a media conference, out of concern news reports would cause Loguancio distress and force him underground.

Ms Jamieson described as "quite remarkable and pointed media saturation" the reporting of the manhunt, coverage which police could not have anticipated.

Such was the coverage, the coroner said, the police media unit contacted some media outlets asking them to "tone down" their reporting.