The woman was allegedly taken hostage by an armed man in Buninyong about 1.45am but she was able to find sanctuary at a Warrenheip Street address before the man was arrested five hours later.

Buninyong resident Brad Mahoney told The Courier the last thing the quiet village expected was the trail of destruction and shock which unfolded on Tuesday morning.

"About 1.30am, there was a loud bang. I got up and I noticed that there were two people out on the road and I thought it was a rock hitting something tin or whatever, there was a loud bang," he said.

READ MORE: 'It's quite horrific': Buninyong residents react to gunman incident

"I reported it to triple zero. Basically, I reviewed some footage here on my security and went back to bed at about two o'clock. About half an hour later, I heard another bang and crashing glass and it was across the road at the post office and Maggie and Kate's.

"When I went outside, she saw [my] light go on and she was yelling out for help and he was ranting all sorts of stuff..." he said.

Mr Mahoney said he also noticed the man was carrying what he believed was a long firearm.

"He had a hold of her and she was making her way over here, yelling for help, and he had the rifle."

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Mr Mahoney said the woman made her way towards his home and was calling for help.

He said he believed at one stage the rifle was pointed towards him before a struggle ensued between the pair and he saw the rifle hit the ground. At this point he said the terrified woman then jumped over Mr Mahoney's front gate and ran into his home, where he later found her.

"She was wet, she was muddy, she was shaking, stressed, hysterical, I would say," he said.

"We just sat inside, we watched the security system, we could see if he was going to come back and that's all we could do.

"She stayed here for quite a while until the police from out of town were in town with their armour and they were able to come and take her."

Mr Mahoney said he was still processing the incident.

"I've done the interview with [police] and tried to download, I'm all wired up after having the rifle pointed directly at me," he said.

"If he had come any closer, I felt confident I could get the firearm off him.

"I'm still wound up. I'm talking, I'm downloading, I'm probably saying a lot of things that I might not say on another day. I'm really wound up about it."

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