The explosion was caused by a car bomb hidden in a stolen 1979 Holden Commodore, bearing Victoria registration plate AVQ-508.

[clarification needed] The blast seriously injured 21-year-old Police Constable Angela Rose Taylor, who later died of her wounds on 20 April and became the first Australian policewoman to be killed in the line of duty.

[4] During the earlier stages of the investigation, detectives initially believed that the bombers target was the Melbourne Magistrates' Court located opposite the Police Headquarters.

[5] Detectives initially believed there was a connection, but evidence uncovered during the investigation quickly ruled out links between the Family Court Attack and the Russell Street Bombing.

[5] A week after the bombing, on 4 April 1986, an anonymous caller had contacted Police Commissioner Mick Miller, stating that they had footage of the offenders responsible just before the explosion.

[5] The caller contacted Miller's office on five separate occasions; each of the calls made was traced to a series of public phone boxes in and around the St. Kilda area.

On 6 March 1986, a Victoria Police Traffic unit was in pursuit of a stolen red Daimler Sovereign in East Keilor.

[4] The driver fled on foot into nearby St. Albans where he had stolen another car from a passing motorist at gunpoint and made his escape.

[4] In the boot of the Daimler, police found a backpack, containing a set of Victorian number plates that had been cut into pieces.

[4] On 25 April 1986, ten Victoria Police officers raided the Kallista home of Peter Michael Reed at 5:45 a.m.

It was alleged that upon attempting to enforce the arrest by forcing entry to the premises, Reed produced a .455 Smith & Wesson revolver and fired at police, seriously wounding Detective Sergeant Mark Wylie.

[4] Born 28 September 1937,[9][12] Stan Taylor had an extensive criminal record dating back to his childhood in the mid 1940s.

Taylor first came attention to the authorities at the age of 8 when he was arrested for truancy and spent two years in the Bayswater Boys Home at The Basin where he was subjected to physical abuse from the other inmates and staff and had been introduced to a life of crime.

During his early adult years, Taylor had been in and out of jail on criminal charges relating to burglary and motorcycle theft.

In 1961, Taylor was convicted of an armed robbery of a milk bar in Clayton and was sent to Pentridge and housed in the notorious H Division where he met Ronald Ryan.

Detectives ran a search for Craig and Rodney Minogue and found that they moved into a house within close distance of Taylor's home in Birchip.

A raid on the house failed to locate the Minogue Brothers but turned up evidence linking them to Russell Street Bombing.

Reed later reportedly stated at his trial in unsworn evidence that "the police started the shooting and I only used [my] firearm in self defence."

Evidence against the accused was as follows: At the end of a six-month trial in 1988 in the Supreme Court of Victoria before Justice Vincent, Taylor and Craig Minogue were convicted of murder and various other offences related to the bombing.

[16] Wylie, who was shot by Reed, later recovered from his wounds, but eventually left the police force; in July 2014, he died by suicide, aged 61.