One of the five hostages to have fled the Lindt cafe siege is a Sydney university student and talented sportswoman.

Photographs of Elly Chen fleeing the cafe on Monday afternoon have gone around the world as the siege at her workplace attracted global attention.

The Sydney Morning Herald reports that she was one of two female cafe workers to run from the cafe about 5pm, an hour after two customers and another staff member fled the building.

The Facebook page of the Sydney student and waitress became a virtual place for her friends to express their fears and worries during her seven hours of captivity.

Then they saw the images of her running into the arms of a police officer, pictures that now feature on hundreds of news websites.