In idyllic Porepunkah, a manhunt this huge feels ‘surreal’ – and the alleged killer could be anywhere

A peaceful Victoria town has been rocked by the fatal shootings of two police officers, leaving locals shuttered indoors and police scouring bushland for the suspect

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It would have been idyllic were it not for the sound of a police helicopter reverberating over the valley.

By late afternoon on Wednesday the rain had slowed to a drizzle in Porepunkah. Mist curled around the foothills of Mt Buffalo. Cows and sheep grazed under a grey sky, unperturbed by the massive manhunt around them.