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A female jewellery store owner fended off four armed robbers in a Melbourne shopping centre.
Filor Firtina owns JK Collections at Waverley Gardens Shopping Centre, in the city's southeast.
She told the Herald Sun she screamed and pushed a bollard at the masked men as they approached her with hammers and an axe.
'One of them was using an axe to keep people away,' she said.
'Then he turned around and started coming at me with the axe.
'He then smashed the window and looked at me as if to say 'that's enough'.'
A video has revealed the terror inside the shopping centre as four armed men robbed a jewellery store in front of terrified shoppers - and repeatedly swung an axe at a female shopkeeper's face.
Police officers placed the Waverley Gardens Shopping Centre in Mulgrave in lockdown after responding to an armed robbery just before midday on Tuesday.
Four armed men, wielding hammers and an axe, smashed their way through the front window of JK Collections before fleeing in a vehicle.
One of the men swung at axe at a female shopkeeper's face, according to a witness who filmed the robbery in progress.
In the video posted on Facebook by Shardia Goldie, the masked men are seen ransacking the store and screaming is heard over the sound of blaring security alarms.
'[The robbers] had axes and were threatening everyone,' Ms Goldie said.
'All shops are closing. Children and elderly are terrified not to mention the woman in the jewellery shop.'
She added: 'I think I should mention that even though the alarm was going off, the security in Waverley Gardens was nowhere to be found.
'The woman in the jewellery shop was shrilling and one man kept shoving an axe in her face.
'Once they left the security guard (slow and unfit to do much) emerged from somewhere.
'I can't blame him as the robbers had axes, but that woman's life has changed, she was alone and no one could/would help her.'
Ms Goldie said she and others fled into a nearby store, but anyone who approached the masked men was 'chased with the ax.'
She added: 'The woman in the jewellery shop was thrilling the entire time obviously terrified for her life [sic].
'One of them kept coming into her and shoving the ax in her face. The alarms were going off but no security anywhere.'
A Victoria Police spokesman said no-one was injured in the incident and the investigation is ongoing.
A witness said the suspects were men of colour, but hid their faces using scarves, The Age reports.
Loan Tran, who works a few stores down at Suji Kim, said other witnesses had told her there was gunfire - but she realised it wasn't.
'I said, no it's OK, it's not gunfire, I can tell by the smashing, because it took so long, the window is very thick glass,' she told the newspaper.
'I ran outside and tried to look for the security, and then I ran into pick up my phone to ring security.
'And they were still smashing. I came out, and I looked and then everyone was running. There was a lot of screaming, people running, and yelling.'
She added the cabinet the robbers emptied was not one filled with expensive items, but less valuable Pandora and Diesel watches.
Ms Tran also said the nearby Prouds Jewellers and Coles were both burgled earlier this year.
A woman, who works at a nearby 7-11 store, said she saw a car speeding away from the store, which is located right next to the entrance to the mall.
'The car drove very fast past my store,' she told news.com.au.
The shopping centre, located on the corner of Police Road and Jacksons Road in Mulgrave, has more than 100 stores.
JK Collections, which specialises in engagement rings, stock an extensive range of handcrafted and European pieces, according to the centre's website.
The store also offers their own individually created designs in 9ct and 18ct yellow, white and rose gold, or in platinum.