The man who allegedly caused an explosion inside a McDonald's restaurant on Sunday night told staff to go outside before deliberately igniting a nine kilogram gas bottle, according to an employee who did not want to be named.
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The manager and 10 staff were on the street and the Braddon restaurant was empty when there was an explosion that shattered the glass front doors around 9pm.
The 41-year-old man – who is said to have gone into the bathroom to ignite the gas cylinder – then came outside, where McDonald's staff helped him before paramedics arrived.
The employee said they were scared for the man who was visibly upset and couldn't speak, his face and arms "black" from burns.
The restaurant was closed on Monday as tradesmen cleaned up.
As well as shattering the glass doors, the explosion caused parts of the roof to collapse and set the sprinklers off. There were broken light fixtures on tables inside and wet plaster throughout the restaurant.
"I was just working and then my manager calls us out and then a few seconds later the ceiling just went off ... the ceiling just collapsed," said another staff member who wanted to remain anonymous.
He remembers hearing an explosion but "at first [we thought] it was just gas leaking, we thought it was nothing".
Staff evacuated to the 7-Eleven across the street, and residents of the seven-story Medina Serviced Apartments above the restaurant were also evacuated when emergency services arrived.
The man, from Giralang, was first taken to Canberra Hospital, and then flown to the dedicated burns unit at Concord Hospital in Sydney in a critical condition, suffering burns to 15 per cent of his body.
On Monday, police could not say if the man had been charged as investigations were ongoing. Concord Hospital was also unable to give an update on the man's condition.
No one else was hurt in the explosion, but McDonald's said it was offering staff counselling, and helping police with their investigation by providing CCTV footage.
On Sunday night, Zimona Zappe was quietly preparing her clothing boutique, Mussen, for the week ahead when she heard a loud bang and screams across the street.
She watched as the 41-year-old man who had allegedly set the gas bottle alight was held up against a wall and stripped of his clothes before being taken to hospital.
"I heard a massive bang and then I heard screaming,"said Ms Zappe, who had also visited the restaurant an hour earlier.
"I went out the front [of my store] and saw a whole lot of people out the front. McDonald's was really smoky."
Ms Zappe was shocked to discover it was a gas explosion.
She welcomed a Sydney family inside her store while residents and tourists from the apartments waited to return to their rooms.
"I felt bad there were little kids without shoes on so I let them in the shop," she said.
"It was cold. I stayed there with them until they could go back inside."
The gas bottle explosion is the second serious incident at an Australian McDonald's restaurant within a week.
At a McDonald's in Brisbane last Friday, Stephen Lock shot dead his former partner Karina Lock, before turning the gun on himself.
