16.22pm: Police have named the neighbour who was wounded when going to the aid of officers involved in the initial tangle with gunman Jan Molenaar on Thursday morning.

He is Leonard Holmwood, 44, of Napier.

Police have said Mr Holmwood was shot when trying to disarm Molenaar as he fired at officers at his property on Chaucer Rd, Napier Hill. Senior Constable Len Snee was killed and two other officers critically injured.

2.55pm: Police went into the house and found Molenaar's dead body barricaded in a room at the back of the house. The say the house it still rigged with explosives.

2.00pm: Police are currently holding a press conference on the end of the siege.

1.34pm: Police say the room where Jan Molenaar was found was one of several which had been difficult for police to view or access.

Superintendent Sam Hoyle said police were not able to immediately say how Molenaar died, but the house was still considered to be dangerous and needed to be cleared by specialist staff.

12.35pm: Molenaar has been found dead in his bedroom, say police. The siege is now over.

12.18pm: A resident with a direct view of Jan Molenaar's house says a tank-like army vehicle is in the driveway with its nose pointed into the driveway, just 12 to 15 feet away from Molenaar's front window.

"There's no way they could be doing this without getting fired upon," Wayne Rollinson said.

"It's over."

12.01pm: There have been fresh explosions at the scene of the Napier siege in the past few minutes.

Herald reporters at the scene say two explosions, about three minutes apart, just shook the street.

11.28am: Police are concerned Molenaar's house may be booby-trapped.

There have been suggestions that Molenaar may have used his military experience to booby-trap his house and police have been cautious about entering.

Police Superintendent Sam Hoyle said specialist equipment capable of detecting explosives was being rounded up and would be used to examine the house before entry.

11.13am: A Herald journalist at the scene, Steven Orsbourn, says several AOS members with gas masks are making their way up to the Molenaar house.

11.06am: Police say Jan Molenaar's status is "unknown" and that the last contact with him was "some hours ago". Police are continuing to treat Molenaar as "alive and dangerous".

10.27am: An eye witness who lives on the Napier hills near Jan Molenaar has told nzherald.co.nz: "This morning [I saw] the police throwing what would appear to be tear gas through a bedroom window."

The eyewitness says he can see the Molenaar house "quite well" with a pair of binoculars. The eye witness says this incident happened around 9.15am.

10.00am: Police communications manager Kaye Calder, responding to questions about the reports that the gunman is dead, would only say: "The man has not been shot at by police.

"Police attention remained on the house this morning at this time."

9.31am: Police are trying to organise a press conference for 10am today on the events overnight at the Napier siege.

Sources have told nzherald.co.nz that Molenaar is dead inside the house at Chaucer Rd, although police are not confirming anything at the moment.

9.07am: Civil Defence says rumours of a lack of beds for people evacuated from the area around Chaucer Rd are untrue.

Last night, 95 adults and 16 children, including families, were accommodated in Napier hotels and motels, according to Napier Civil Defence.

Rumours of a lack of beds and people sleeping in the Welfare Centre at Napier Intermediate School were untrue, Civil Defence controller Dennis Morgan said.

8.40am: A witness says they have seen police in Jan Molenaar's house within the past 15 minutes, a Herald journalist reports.

8.35am: A Radio New Zealand reporter has provided a breakdown of the blasts from overnight at the Molenaar property.

Radio NZ is reporting that the first blast occurred around 3.15am this morning. A second occurred just before 6am.

"An armoured personnel carrier went to the site about 4am and returned an hour later, while an ambulance and police vehicles also went towards the property," says Radio New Zealand.

8.12am: A Herald journalist at the scene, Steven Orsbourn, says there has been a change of shift of the Armed Offenders Squad. He says the atmosphere amongst the police is noticeably less tense than at other times during the stand-off.

8.05am: The Weekend Herald understood officers were planning to approach the house at first light today.

They would not move at night because of fears - based on what a friend of gunman Jan Molenaar told them - that the house could be booby trapped.

Arthur Hyde told the Weekend Herald police should not even consider going inside yet as Molenaar was more than capable of wiring the house with explosives.

7.30am: A loud explosion and gunshots were reported early this morning from the cordon surrounding the Napier Hill dwelling where a gunman is holed up.

As the siege enters its third day, Freelance photographer Kerry Marshall, standing on the edge of the cordoned area, told NZPA a loud explosion rocked the quiet suburban area about 3.30am.

"We heard one loud explosion and it also seemed as if there were gunshots as well," Marshall said.

He added a four-wheel drive vehicle came out of the cordon lines about the same time, driven by what looked like an Armed Offenders Squad member.

Newstalk ZB radio suggested the blast was caused by explosives set by a robot normally used to destroy bombs.

The station's report indicated the blast at a garage door attached to Molenaar's house might have been used in an effort to gain entry.