Eerie quiet settles over dramatic Sydney hostage scene LIVE STREAM (REPLAY)

Huddled in the dark, up to 15 hostages are tonight hoping for a breakthrough in negotiations to free them from a gunman.

Well-wishers are standing in vigil outside the exclusion zone in Sydney's Martin Place, as an eerie quiet settles over the city.

Half a dozen families of those being held have gathered at a nearby St James building, with police keeping them updated as to the negotiations.