Officers found the bodies of Maurice Antill, 87, and Zoe Antill, 86, in the couple’s backyard at Parkinson, south of Brisbane, on the afternoon of December 17, 2020.

The pair appeared to have sustained fatal stab wounds and blunt force trauma mainly to their neck and chest, an earlier pre-inquest conference was told.

Police, who forcibly entered the property after a health care worker asked for a welfare check, found the back door open although the house was neat and tidy.

Investigations suggested Mr and Mrs Antill were killed by 22-year-old Raghe Mohamed Abdi who was shot dead by police on the Logan Motorway at nearby Drewvale the same day, senior counsel assisting Rhiannon Helsen told the conference.

Police, alerted that Abdi was in the breakdown lane of the highway around 6am, attempted to move him given the danger.

“Mr Abdi was reportedly agitated and pulled a knife from his pocket,” Ms Helsen said.

He continued to brandish the weapon while moving towards police and was fatally shot.

Federal police suspected Abdi had been influenced by Islamist group al-Shabab when arrested on suspicion of an attempted foreign incursion while trying to depart Brisbane Airport for Somalia in May 2019.

He was released without charge due to insufficient evidence but had his passport cancelled.

In June 2019, he was charged with further offences including refusing to give the passcode for his phone.

He was remanded in custody after refusing to answer the magistrate or acknowledge the authority of the court, but was granted bail in September 2020.

As a condition of bail Abdi was required to wear a tracking bracelet, but that had been removed before his encounter with police on the motorway.

Police said at the time of the deaths that Abdi’s property was found at couple’s home, and items belonging to them were found on his body.

The matter was treated as a “terrorism event” due to Abdi’s history, because the shooting indicated he wanted to harm police, and as a result of his links to the double murder, Queensland Police Deputy Commissioner Tracy Linford said at the time.

The inquest is set to consider the circumstances surrounding the deaths of the Antills at their home on or around December 16, 2020 and the circumstances leading up to Abdi’s shooting.

It will also explore whether the actions of police officers involved in the shooting were appropriate, the adequacy of the police investigation into the deaths and whether any actions could be undertaken to prevent a similar incident from occurring again.

Deputy State Coroner Jane Bentley will preside over the inquest set down for five days from April 4 at Southport Magistrates Court.