The man who went on a horrific stabbing rampage in an Australian shopping mall appears to have targeted women according to police and his family.

The Sydney mall was turned into a killing field Saturday when Joel Cauchi, 40, armed with a long knife, began slashing people. Five victims and Cauchi were killed. Five of the six people who died were women. The other victim was a security guard who intervened to stop the rampage.

The police commissioner said it was "obvious" Cauchi targeted women in the attack after watching security videos of the incident.

"The videos speak for themselves, don't they?" commissioner Karen Webb told ABC Australia.

"It's obvious to me, it's obvious to detectives that the offender focused on women and avoided the men."

Cauchi entered the Westfield Bondi Junction Mall in the late afternoon and started the attack. Along with the dead, 12 others were injured, most seriously or critically injured, said police. A nine-month-old baby was among those stabbed.

Among the victims was a mother who reportedly died while trying to save her baby. Ash Good, 38, was identified by local news outlets as among the victims in the bloodbath at the mall.

The other victims were Jade Young, 47, Pikria Darchia, 55, Dawn Singleton, 25, and Yixuan Cheng.

Cauchi was killed by a pursuing female police officer who fatally shot him when he turned to confront her, police said.

His father said Cauchi had dealt with mental illness and there is a reason he could have wanted to target women.

"He wanted a girlfriend and he's got no social skills and he was frustrated out of his brain," Andrew Cauchi told reporters.

The Australian Federal Police and Australian Security Intelligence Organization are continuing to investigate the attack.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese called the murderous attack a "horrific act of violence indiscriminately targeting innocent people going about an ordinary Saturday."