The tragic Lindt Chocolate Cafe siege in Sydney, which ended with an innocent man and woman dead, has terrified and captivated the attention of the entire world.

US TV stations CNN, Fox News and MSNBC, as well as several other 24-hour news networks, had rolling live coverage of the 17-hour siege in the heart of Sydney’s CBD.

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As the final cataclysmic moments of the siege ended in a hail of gunfire, the world watched live – CNN switched programming to the Seven Network’s coverage, while FOX News switched to Australia’s Sky News.

The New York Times, USA Today, The Los Angeles Times, the UK’s Independent and Times, France’s Le Monde and other news websites were dominated by the harrowing photos of hostages running for their lives.

The New York Times front page had a large photo of two of the hostages holding up the infamous black and white Islamic flag that had dominated websites for most of Monday.

Local website and newspapers were emblazoned with every detail of the siege.

Sydney’s Daily Telegraph was largely criticised on Monday when it released a special edition with the headline ‘Death Cult CBD Attack’, with international outlets, like the Irish Independent, questioning the ethics of the Australian paper.

On Tuesday, The Daily Telegraph’s sister Melbourne paper, The Herald Sun, and Fairfax Media carried more subtle messages.

– With AAP