Saturday's twin attacks on a cultural center and synagogue in Copenhagen left two people dead and five police officers wounded before the assailant himself was gunned down.

Following is a timeline of the dramatic events, which lasted nearly 14 hours from the first burst of gunfire to the last.

In the first attack at around 3:30 pm (1430 GMT), a man armed with a machine pistol fires dozens of rounds on the cultural center where a forum on Islam and free speech is taking place attended by dozens of people.

Swedish cartoonist Lars Vilks, survivor of several death threats since gaining international notoriety for a 2007 cartoon portraying the Prophet Mohammed as a dog, is a speaker at the forum titled "Art, Blasphemy and Freedom".

The assailant's barrage of gunfire is caught on a recording broadcast by the BBC.

France's ambassador to Denmark, Francois Zimeray is at the event, taking place just over a month since the attacks in Paris that left 17 people dead.

Speaking to AFP by telephone, Zimeray recounts how all the participants threw themselves to the floor as soon as the gunfire erupted.

"I would say there were at least 50 gunshots, and the police here are saying 200," he says.

"Bullets went through the doors."

A 55-year-old participant is killed and three police officers are wounded.

Danish media identify the dead man as documentary filmmaker Finn Norgaard.

The gunman flees the scene in a Volkswagen Polo, sparking a manhunt.

At first investigators think two men are involved including one in the getaway car, but after gathering eyewitness accounts they conclude that the gunman acted alone.

He abandons the car some two kilometers (a little more than a mile) to the north of the cultural center, near a railway station.

At 5:07 pm, police release the car's licence plate number and warn Copenhagen residents against trying to apprehend the suspect.

At 5:54 pm police say they have found the abandoned car.

At 7:23 pm police issue a description of the suspect as being "between 25 and 30 years old, around 1.85m (six foot one inch) tall, athletic, of Arab appearance... with straight hair."

At 8:06 pm police release a still from videosurveillance footage taken outside the railway station showing him wearing a dark anorak and a maroon balaclava carrying a black bag.

The second shooting takes place between midnight and 1:00 am Sunday outside Copenhagen's main synagogue.

A spokesman for a Jewish association, Jeppe Jul, tells Swedish daily Dagens Nyheter that the assailant looks like a drunken partygoer, saying he vomited in the street.

The gunman opens fire without warning, wounding two police officers and killing a 37-year-old Jewish man, Dan Uzan, a guard at the synagogue.

The gunman flees on foot.

At around 4:00 am, police receive a call from a taxi driver who thinks he spotted the fugitive.

Security forces stake out a building in the working-class neighborhood of Norrebro.

At around 5:00 am the man arrives and fires on police, who return fire, killing him.

On Sunday, investigators say they believe the man was behind both attacks.

Police launch several raids, including one on an Internet cafe in Copenhagen.

Police say the suspect was a 22-year-old man born and raised in Denmark who had a history of assault and weapons offences.

Several media outlets name him as Omar El-Hussein. Danish tabloid Ekstra-Bladet says he was released from jail two weeks ago after serving a term for aggravated assault.

Police said they are investigating if the man had received help from others and the possibility he had travelled to conflict zones such as Syria and Iraq.(AFP)