“He came into the shop with all his body blood and he call me help, help, help, and that how much I got shocked I didn’t know what I had to do,” salon owner, Tu Anh Phan told local broadcaster Seven Network, describing the scene as she saw the victim, who has been named as Wayne Greenhalg.

Neighbor Sevei Ah Chong then ran to stop the attacker, named by police as Ihsas Khan.

“Tell him to put the knife down and don’t be stupid and then he tried to stab me as well,” Chong said. “I chased him with the pale, the fence pale and just bashed him.”

According to witnesses Khan had tried to get into the salon but the quick-thinking owner locked the door.

“He’s thrown it and it’s hit him straight in the middle of the head and it’s stunned him and that put him aback long enough for Wayne to get into the shop,” added Andrew Horton.

Khan was known to police and according to local media his mother had died eight months ago.

The victim remains in a critical but stable condition in a local hospital, with New South Wales Police and even the Australian Prime Minister praising the bystanders.

“He tried to bang the glass everything to get in but he couldn’t, my next door [neighbor] just tried to hold him back. He said yeah I have to die today, it’s my day,” added Phan.

According to local media, Khan is due to appear in court next week.

Australia, a staunch US ally, has been on heightened alert for attacks by home-grown radicals since 2014 and authorities have said they have thwarted a number of plots.

There have been several “lone wolf” assaults, including a 2014 cafe siege in Sydney that left two hostages and the gunman dead.

S/SH 11