Two Australian police officers have been gunned down in an “execution” by a suspected sex offender who then took his wife and children hostage and fled into the bush, police said.

The officers were ambushed at a property in the Victorian Alps, 300 kilometres north-east of Melbourne, on Tuesday morning as they tried to serve a warrant linked to historic sex abuse allegations. 

Two were killed instantly, while a third was struck in the thigh but managed to escape and was flown to hospital in Melbourne for emergency surgery. 

Anthony Albanese, the prime minister, expressed his sympathy for the police. “Our thoughts are with the police for the work they do, each and every day,” Mr Albanese said. 

Specialist police brought in sniffer dogs on Tuesday as helicopters equipped with thermal-imaging cameras searched bushland at the foot of Mount Buffalo for the gunman.