There was just enough late Saturday-night traffic to remind them of what they were missing.

Sergeant Gary Silk and Senior Constable Rod Miller were in an unmarked Commodore, sitting off the Silky Emperor Chinese restaurant in Warrigal Road, Moorabbin, with odds of 200-to-one against anything happening.

Miller had a wife and a seven-week-old son at home. Silk was single and treated his colleagues at St Kilda as his extended family. Both were popular and respected officers in the Victoria Police. Both could think of better things to do on a Saturday night.

But on Friday, and again on Saturday, up to 60 police were doing the same thing. From Frankston to Brighton, and across to Nunawading and Box Hill, they made up Operation Hamada.

Armed robberies on so-called "soft targets", such as takeaway food stores, restaurants and convenience shops, soared by 26 per cent in 1997-98. Last month senior police launched a rolling strike-force of police, moving from district to district to deter armed robberies.

But this weekend's operation was bigger than a well-publicised police show of force to deter armed robbers; this was designed to nail a gang that may have been active as far back as 1992. In two years up to 1994 bandits robbed 28 restaurants and shops in the eastern suburbs. They were never caught. This year, there have been 11 similar robberies - five of them on Chinese restaurants - leading police to believe the same offenders may be involved..

For months, the armed robbery squad has been trying to identify the robbers who commonly raid Chinese restaurants around closing time on weekends, when the takings are greatest. They tie up staff and patrons, often robbing the customers. Senior police decided to sit off as many likely targets as possible in the hope of grabbing the robbers at the scene.

For officers with a watching brief it always seems unlikely anything will happen. But it did.

As restaurants go, the Silky Emperor is isolated, sharing Warrigal Road with car yards and warehouses. Behind it is a sprawling industrial estate of panel-beaters, car wreckers and small factories.

So it was remote and it had a main roadway at its front door for a fast exit. That made the Silky Emperor vulnerable, a soft target.

It was in a list of about six Moorabbin targets to be watched by police in unmarked cars. Similar lists were drawn up for Frankston, Dandenong and Nunawading. Common among the targets were that they were medium-sized with few staff and in isolated locations.

The Silky Emperor was a typical target, but Silk, 34, and Miller, 35, were not supposed to be there. It is understood they had been assigned to sit off another restaurant in Moorabbin district, but that had closed without incident.

They were both known as dedicated officers who loved the job. And so it seems, because they drove to the Silky Emperor as back-up for another car from the Moorabbin Regional Support Group that had been stationed there.

It is understood that before midnight, Sergeant Silk saw something that alerted his suspicions. A car, since described as small, dark coloured and of Asian manufacture, moved slowly by the restaurant and stopped briefly. About 20 minutes after midnight, the car reappeared.

The two officers in the back-up unit decided to intercept it. Silk and Miller followed the car into Cochranes Road. As they did so, one of them placed their portable blue light on the roof of the Commodore and switched it on. They did not switch on the siren because it still appeared to be a routine intercept.

The dark car pulled up in Cochranes Road and the police vehicle stopped behind it.

Having seen the move, the second police car followed the Commodore's path into Cochranes Road. As they drove past the scene, its officers noticed nothing untoward. By then, Silk and Miller were out of the unmarked Commodore and talking to the driver of the dark car.

The unknown driver was wearing a blue checked shirt, jeans and runners. He was about 182cm tall. The three were standing in front of the police car. It appeared a routine pull-over.

It is believed the second police car continued down Cochranes Road 150 metres to 200 metres where it made a U-turn and parked to observe from a distance.

Seconds later there was gunfire and the police in the second car saw the sharp flash of muzzle bursts. They instinctively went to the aid of their colleagues. The killer's car cruised out of the district while the police attempted first aid.

Sergeant Silk died almost instantly from a gunshot wound to the head. Constable Miller was shot in the chest and abdomen but may have been able to return fire. Police believe the killer's car may have been struck and now could be bearing gunshot damage. Investigating police have not completed their interviews with the police witnesses.

At 12.27, an emergency call went in to Moorabbin ambulance station, and two ambulances, including an intensive care vehicle, were dispatched a minute later. Ambulance officers were at the scene within 10 minutes. They realised they could not help Sergeant Silk, and were directed to Constable Miller, who had struggled back to Warrigal Road, where he collapsed.

Constable Miller was transferred to the intensive care ambulance and driven to the Monash Medical Centre, but he died hours later.

Sergeant Silk had been in the job for 13 years. He had worked at Port Melbourne and St Kilda, in uniform and as a detective. In an occupation where people can be judged harshly, no one had a bad word for a man seen as a hard-working investigator who loved being a policeman and was one of the most popular characters at the St Kilda station.

Rod Miller had seven years experience after joining the police in his late 20s. He was stationed at Prahran and colleagues said he was besotted with his wife and baby son.

Yesterday more than 100 police - mates of the dead men - held an impromptu wake at the Bush Inn in Prahran.

When the Operation Hamada surveillance teams were briefed, they were warned of the possible dangers and told not to tackle the armed offenders but to observe and call for back-up.

Some top-ranking police had expressed concern over the operation because of the possibility of armed confrontation. Under Project Beacon, the force's safety-first program - "The safety of police, the public and offenders and suspects is paramount".

Police considered allowing detectives to continue to try to identify gang members, or placing officers in every possible restaurant. After an internal briefing it was decided to proceed with a blanket operation.

Asked if the officers should have been wearing protective vests, Assistant Commissioner George Davis said: "It's easy to be wise in hindsight. The bullet-proof vests we have are cumbersome and are impossible to wear for the whole duration of an operation like this."

Operation Hamada has been cancelled. A new task force, to find the killer of the two policemen, will be formed today.

A STAKEOUT GOES HORRIBLY WRONG:

1. Sergeant Gary Silk and Senior Constable Rodney Miller join two other police at the stakeout of the Silky Emperor restaurant, part of a big operation to catch a restaurant-robbery gang. The pair had spent Saturday night watching a nearby restaurant. It closed, so they joined their colleagues watching the Silky Emperor.

2. About 12.20 am, Sergeant Silk and Senior Constable Miller see a car circle the block of a second time. It passed shortly before midnight. They follow it into Cochranes Road.

3. The police vehicle pulls over the suspicuous car. Following police procedure, they pull in behind the suspect car.

4. Sergeant Silk and Senior Constable Miller get out and talk to a man from the suspect car. The second police car drives past, noticing Sergeant Silk and Senior Constable Miller talking to a man in a blue check shirt and jeans with dark, shoulder-length hair.

5. The second police car continues up Cochranes Road, then turns around to provide back-up. As it does so its occupants see muzzle flashes. They drive back to the police car. The gunman escapes in his vehicle. Sergeant Silk is dead: Senior Constable Miller is fatally wounded.

First published in The Age on August 17, 1998