Two police officers who were shot dead while on duty in a rural Australian town have been named, as a massive search continues for their alleged killer.

Victoria Police identified the victims as 59-year-old Detective Neal Thompson – a local officer on the brink of retirement – and 35-year-old Senior Constable Vadim De Waart.

The pair had travelled to the property in Porepunkah, north-east of Melbourne, alongside eight colleagues to execute a warrant for alleged sexual offences. Another officer was seriously injured in the shootout but is recovering after surgery.

Police say the suspect – named as local man Dezi Freeman, 56 – is heavily armed and “still at large” more than 24 hours on.

Thompson joined the force in 1987 and worked with the major fraud and crime squads before moving to the town of Wangaratta – an hour from Porepunkah – in 2007. A great lover of the outdoors, he was planning for his imminent retirement.

De Waart was temporarily posted to Wangarratta, but lived in Melbourne, where the avid traveller had moved from Belgium.

In a statement, Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Mike Bush said the “devastating loss” of the two officers “struck at the heart” of both the broader policing family and the Porepunkah community.

“It is not lost on me that our members take a risk every time they go to work to protect the Victorian community,” he said. “While we all live with the knowledge that the worst could happen on a shift, we don’t expect it to.”

Groups of officers, a helicopter and at least one armoured vehicle are combing the dense bushland where Mr Freeman absconded – a task locals have likened to finding “a needle in a haystack” – with authorities warning residents to stay inside until he is caught.

Earlier on Wednesday, Mr Bush said police were “pouring every resource” into the search for Mr Freeman, urging people in the Porepunkah area to “be vigilant” and keep safe.

He also confirmed that Mr Freeman’s partner and children were safe, refuting previous media reports that he had taken his family hostage.

Since the shooting there have been no sightings of Mr Freeman, who reportedly knows the local wilderness well, but authorities are focusing their efforts on bush near his home.

“He will know that area better than us so that is why we are putting in every expert, supported by local knowledge,” Mr Bush said.

Surrounded by heavily wooded hills in the Australian Alps, Porepunkah is only about an hour’s drive from the New South Wales border, and Mr Bush said he couldn’t rule out the possibility Mr Freeman may have left the state – though there was currently “no information” to suggest that.

Misty-Rose Wilson, a local business operator, told the BBC those looking for Mr Freeman would be battling very thick bush and a very steep incline, along with dismal weather conditions and low visibility.

“Knowing how hard it would be to track through that area, it’s a bit of a needle in a haystack to be quite honest,” she said.

Marcus Simpson, who manages operations at the local airfield, said the town was in shock after the shooting.

“It’s a good community, tight-knit, and everyone sort of knows most people,” he said.

“[The town] is going to need a bit of a big healing process to get over it.”

Mr Freeman has previously described himself as a “sovereign citizen”, referring to a person that falsely believes they aren’t subject to Australian laws and government authority. His hatred of authority has been well documented in online posts, videos and court documents.

Police have said it is too early to answer questions about Mr Freeman’s beliefs – but the incident has revived questions over how authorities deal with extremists views.

Some, including Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, have noted the similarities between this attack and a shocking 2022 ambush on police in Queensland.

“This threat is very real and we need to be very vigilant about it,” he said in an interview with the ABC on Tuesday night.

Gas and electricity prices will rise by 2% for millions of households under the latest cap announced by energy regulator Ofgem.

The increase, which is slightly more than analysts expected, means a household using a typical amount of energy will pay £1,755 a year, up £35 a year on the current cap.

The increase will kick in at the start of October, which campaigners say will mean another winter of relatively high energy bills.

Ofgem’s cap sets the maximum price that can be charged for each unit of gas and electricity for millions of households in England, Scotland and Wales.

Individual households can calculate their estimated specific change by adding £2 onto every £100 they spend at the moment on energy each year.

The increase comes as families are also facing rises in other basic costs. The British Retail Consortium said that food costs were rising at their fastest rate since the February of last year, with the price of chocolate, butter and eggs soaring.

The energy cap sets the maximum price for each unit, but not the total bill which depends on how much energy you use.

The change comes into force at the start of October and lasts for three months.

Ofgem changes the cap, largely based on the cost of energy on wholesale markets.

However, the rise in bills this time is partly the result of the higher cost of transporting energy and extra support measures for consumers, previously announced by the government and in place this winter.

Anyone on means-tested benefits will automatically receive the £150 Warm Home Discount on their bills. Some previously did not qualify owing to the size of their property, but that condition will be scrapped.

All billpayers will chip in to fund this extra support, mainly through higher standing charges – the fixed cost of connecting to the supply. It means standing charges will typically rise by 4% for electricity and 14% for gas.

The consumer group Which? said it could be a good time to shop around for a fixed-price deal, but billpayers should be alert to exit fees.

“Some contracts charge large fees to leave early, which would cancel out any savings,” said Emily Seymour, from Which?.

Ofgem said that more than a third of billpayers were now on fixed deals, where the price of each unit is fixed for a year and unaffected by the price cap.

Tim Jarvis, director general of markets at the energy regulator, said this was a sign of a “healthier market”.

He accepted that people would still feel the impact of a price rise, but added some could do things to save themselves money, such as paying via direct debit each month rather than receiving a bill every three months – called standard credit.

Around 20 million households pay by direct debit, with eight million on standard credit, and six million on prepayment meters.

Campaigners say many households are still struggling to pay bills, as well as repay £4bn of energy debt that built up during a period of high prices.

Simon Francis, coordinator of the End Fuel Poverty Coalition, said this would mean another winter of high prices.

“The average family still paying hundreds of pounds more than they did just a few years ago,” he said.

The government, which earlier this year made a U-turn on winter fuel payments, said it was determined to help vulnerable families by expanding the Warm Home Discount.

Energy minister Michael Shanks said the government wanted more clean energy produced domestically to bring down prices.

Energy UK, which represents suppliers, said the Warm Home Discount expansion should only be a temporary measure and targeting those most in need was a better long-term requirement.

Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey said “the last thing” families and pensioners needed was higher energy bills this winter.

“Your English teacher and your gym teacher are getting married.”

With that one-line, five-picture Instagram post, signed off with a fire cracker emoji, Taylor Swift announced her engagement to American football player Travis Kelce, sending the internet into a frenzy.

The post by the couple – who have been together for two years – has been liked more than 18 million times on the social media platform.

NFL star Kelce is pictured getting down on one knee to pop the question to the world-famous music superstar, with the pair gazing into each other’s eyes and embracing.

In the third picture in the carousel, Swift, wearing a Ralph Lauren halter neck dress and diamond encrusted Cartier watch, flashes her engagement ring – a cushion cut diamond on a gold band.

According to US reports, the ring was purchased from Artifex Fine Jewelery. Prices for rings on its website start at around $29,000 (£21,506.26).

Photos show the couple surrounded by roses, anemones, delphiniums and hydrangeas which appear to be set up in woodland with strategically placed urns and an archway, wedding florist Nicola Paul told the BBC.

“It’s simple elegance, not too ostentatious,” she said. “It’s been staged in the woods, so you get that lush greenery look.”

Celebrity florist Jeff Leatham, who has worked with the Kardashians, described the design as “beautiful, hidden secret garden with a romantic mix of florals”.

Accompanying the Instagram post is Swift’s ballad So High School from the Tortured Poets Department album – rumoured to have been written about Kelce.

“I feel so high school every time I look at you,” she sings.

The clip of the song finishes on the line “Are you gonna marry, kiss, or kill me?” which apparently is a reference to a 2016 interview in which Kelce chose to kiss Taylor in a game of Kiss, Marry, Kill.

“That was so magical and special to see,” said Dr Iona Murphy, an advisor on last year’s Victoria and Albert Museum’s exhibition on Swift and a superfan who has written about Swift.

“A song that was written about Travis was now being used on the post. It’s a nice full circle moment,” said Dr Murphy, an English literature lecturer at Huddersfield University.

She said the caption to the Instagram announcement – “your English teacher and your gym teacher are getting married” – is also notable, as it refers to how the fans like to describe the couple.

“That’s like a little joke in the fandom. You see it on social media. So it’s like that was a little nod to the fans,” she said.

The pop emergency has resonated with fans in an extraordinary way.

Videos on social media show groups of friends screaming as they heard the news, while others describe feeling emotional and even teary.

“I thought it was AI when I first opened up Instagram,” Chloe, who runs a Swiftie news fan account with 74,000 followers on TikTok, told the BBC.

“I couldn’t believe it was real, then I realised it was their accounts that posted it,” she said. “I immediately freaked out and text my group chat incoherently. Just excitement and disbelief, really.”

As the news broke, many Swift fans were joking on social media that they were happy for their “close friend” Swift.

Swift recognised early on in her career the benefit of connecting with fans, and has carefully crafted a sense of relatability.

And at the same time, many of Swift’s original fans – who were teenagers at the same time as Swift was breaking through as an artist – have grown up with her, and are now at the same age when they may also be getting engaged or married.

Explaining why she felt so strongly about the engagement, Chloe said: “I feel in a way we all know her.

“Her music is so personal, and the way she connects to her fans is through the way she talks and sings about her relationships. I just want the best for her and just happy she’s found love.”

The social media frenzy about Swift’s engagement news marks yet another high point in the fans’ huge interest and fascination in her love life – including her past relationships and heartbreaks.

Indeed, Swift has previously spoken about the media’s “fixation on painting me as the psycho serial dater girl”.

But it is also something the songwriter has deliberately played into by famously writing about her exes in her song and giving clues to fans about her relationships.

According to Laura Snapes, the Guardian’s deputy music editor and a Swift fan, it was “almost like an artform” how she has played into the media speculation around her love life.

“She definitely knows the benefits of a relationship to keep her in the headlines. 1989 is about her relationship with Harry Styles but as far as we can tell that lasted a matter of months”, Snapes said on the Today In Focus podcast.

And interestingly, the engagement announcement came just weeks after Swift’s interview with Kelce on his New Heights podcast – which Dr Murphy believed was noteworthy as it was the first time fans saw them interact together in a long interview and how compatible they seemed.

“It was almost like a two-hour interview – we haven’t had that much interview content. So it was lovely to watch. We could see the chemistry and how comfortable she felt with him,” she said.

It’s not just Swift saying yes – the feeling is the same for her fandom, according to Chloe.

“We Swifties have seen a lot of boyfriends over the years, some we’ve liked and some we definitely have not liked.

“Travis is someone who loves her proudly and doesn’t seem intimidated by her success which other suitors might have been,” she said.