In the middle of a Sunday afternoon in Papua New Guinea's capital, Port Moresby, people looked out the window of a newly opened shopping centre to see a group of men armed with machetes running down the street.
One shopper took out their mobile phone and began filming as the men viciously attacked people, swinging the long knives down with force as their victims cowered on the ground.
Incredibly, police say no-one was killed.
The city's main hospital, Port Moresby General, treated two men — one who had a cut to the arm, and another who was cut on the back of the head.
However, police say there are other victims they haven't been able to interview.
"They were injured but didn't go to the hospital, out of fear of retaliation, so it was very hard for police to get the correct number or even get their witness statements," the city's metropolitan superintendent Gideon Ikumu said.
The attack happened outside a centre where votes were being tallied for the country's general election.
Attacks like this have fed fear and tension in the city, which went into a virtual lockdown the following day as bouts of violence broke out and police and military took to the streets.
Conjecture and rumours over this attack have spread as people debate what happened, who was responsible, and what the motive was, since it did not appear the intent was to kill.
The speculation speaks to a broader, deep distrust of some political candidates and the electoral process, which has been plagued by problems, delays and violence.
PNG's Governor-General, Sir Bob Dadae, has now intervened in the election, granting an extraordinary request for a two-week extension for the results to be handed up, to "avoid a failed election".
Even with the last-minute reprieve, the next fortnight is expected to remain tense.
Roads blocked and schools closed as tension spills onto streets
The machete attack started with an argument over ballot boxes.
Two ballot boxes were being disputed during counting for the Moresby North East electorate, but an argument began about whether counting should continue on other boxes.
The argument escalated and ended with people running through the streets with machetes.
Across the country, counting has been delayed by both legal and illegal attempts to address allegations of corruption.
In Port Moresby, electoral officials have at different times been hauled into the police station amid scrutineer complaints about incorrect tallying of votes.
Political supporters have been camping outside the city's counting centres, to monitor the process and show support.
Superintendent Ikumu said weapons, including knives and stones, were hidden in the camp sites and "bricks they used for their tents, they also used for missiles and weapons and used them against each other".
Immediately after the machete attack, security forces cleared out the crowds and the tents and burned what was left of the campsites.
As mobile phone vision of the attack spread on social media, rumours swirled about whether people were killed and curiosity only grew when police revealed only the back of the machetes had been used.
That fact is being read into conspiratorially in some quarters.
Superintendent Ikumu said the victims who had spoken to police now "fear for their lives".
"They wouldn't give a clear story as to what happened, so that is now a matter of investigation," he said.
This is the latest in a string of election-related violence.
Some of the incidents are the result of disaffected people reacting angrily to ballot-box hijacking, vote-rigging or problems with the electoral roll, while elsewhere candidates have been accused of inciting their supporters to violence to try to influence outcomes.
The Governor-General and the Commonwealth Election Observer Group have both called for changes to be made to the electoral process to avoid the same issues being repeated during the next election in 2027.
Despite the many issues, the observer group did make a point of commending the determination and patience of the vast majority of voters.
The day after the machete attack, people were told to stay home and the streets of Port Moresby were quiet. Shops and offices that had opened began closing their doors around midday as small skirmishes of violence broke out around the city.
In the village of Hanuabada, on Port Moresby's harbour, people closed roads to stop outsiders from coming in after supporters of an opposing candidate threatened a busload of villagers.
"They challenged the boys. We chased them away," one man at the barricade explained.
"We are defending our people."
Inside the village, people walked the streets armed with machetes, bats and metal poles — ready if any attackers were to come.
There were similar scenes in other communities that felt threatened.
Police and army personnel took to the streets in a show of force designed to quell any more election-related or opportunistic crime.
It proved effective. By the afternoon, things had settled, but the city remains on edge and several schools and offices have stayed closed for the week.
There are concerns that some candidates may be using violence and unrest to try to derail the electoral process.
"I also appeal to some other candidates, who think they can use this opportunity to fail the elections in the city: it will not happen," one candidate in the Moresby North East electorate said.
Another called for candidates to be held to account for the actions of their supporters.
PNG Police Commissioner David Manning said increased security would remain in Port Moresby and other hotspots in the weeks ahead.
"A strong security presence will remain on the streets, with the capacity for rapid response if unrest starts to swell," he said in a statement.
PNG election now set to run for more than a month
Staggered voting in PNG's election began at the start of July, and the date for the results to be handed up was this Friday, at the end of the month.
With the fortnight extension, it will now run into the middle of August.
There has been a lot of legal debate behind the scenes in recent days about whether the date for the return of writs could be pushed back.
The same day the machete-wielding assailants ran through the streets of Port Moresby, the Electoral Commissioner told the media that there was no ability to extend, and the very next day Prime Minister James Marape sat alongside the Justice Secretary insisting things would be fine come the Friday deadline.
When Mr Marape heard an extension had been granted, he welcomed it.
"If the Electoral Commissioner did advise the Governor-General for an extension and, if it is legally correct, then so be it — it's even better because it then gives room for all the counting that's going on to be concluded," he said.
Previous PNG elections have seen delays in the delivery of results and there are measures to allow extra time for counting to be completed in individual seats that are unfinished.
However, the circumstances this time were more extreme.
PNG is governed by coalitions — no one party can win enough seats to govern on its own. That means the government and the prime minister are decided by a vote on the floor of parliament.
Legally, a majority of seats are meant to be declared by the date for the return of writs, and there were concerns that a majority wouldn't be counted in time.
More than a week ago, Transparency International PNG was warning that could lead to a constitutional crisis. Only 18 of the 118 seats had been declared when the Governor-General allowed the extension.
Even if the Electoral Commission had declared a majority by the writs date, if there were dozens of seats still undeclared when the new parliament sat the following week, it would have created outrage among parties who felt they were disadvantaged.
It's possible some would have gone to the courts to try to stop the parliament sitting and that, potentially, could have led to unrest among frustrated political supporters.
With the extension, that has now been avoided.
However, tension remains high at counting centres, where some concerned and distrustful candidates are pushing back against anything they perceive as corruption, and other nefarious candidates are happy to try to use the problems to their advantage.
After a week of fear and uncertainty, residents in the capital, and elsewhere in the country, will just be hoping to get through the fortnight peacefully.
