The top cop in Sydney, Australia, defended an officer who was photographed with her hands up after an online mob accused her of “surrendering” to the armed terrorists in the mass shooting at Australia’s Bondi Beach.

The statement comes as a new timeline suggests officers took down the father-son gunmen in about 6 minutes, not the 10 or 20 minutes that were initially reported.

New South Wales Police Commissioner Mal Lanyon slammed the spread of misinformation after the image of the female officer went viral, explaining that the photo was taken completely out of context as police face backlash over their alleged failure to properly respond to the terror attack.

“Her hands were up in the air at that stage as she was giving an indication to members of the public to continue moving, because she was trying to prevent further harm,” Lanyon told 2GB Sydney.

The female officer and her partner arrived at the scene of Sunday’s shooting and were fired upon by the gunmen, with a bullet hole visible on the windshield of their car.

“She thought she was going to die at that location; to her ultimate credit and to the greatest respect of myself as her commissioner, she continued to perform her duty,” Lanyon said.

The officer quickly moved to help evacuate members of the public away from the massacre, Lanyon said, with her motion directing people to get away caught on camera.

Trolls on social media cropped the image to misconstrue it and claim the officer was “freezing” and surrendering to the gunmen.

The full image of the shot shows the officer walking in front of civilians near the Bondi Beach shooting site, telling them to clear the scene.

“That type of misinformation, that type of taking situations out of context, is incredibly harmful,” Lanyon said.

“She’s exactly the type of officer we need in this police force, and my concern is that type of misinformation and misrepresentation will tend to lead officers to leave the police force because they don’t feel supported,” he added.

Australian police have faced severe backlash over Sunday’s massacre, with witnesses claiming officers failed to act in time to stop the gunmen from killing 15 people and injuring dozens of others during a Hanukkah celebration in Bondi Beach.

Lanyon and NSW Premier Chris Minns, however, have defended the officers, saying they acted appropriately and courageously to take down the shooters.

Police responded almost immediately to the shooting, according to an analysis of the massacre conducted by the Australian Financial Review.

The first shots from police were recorded some five minutes after the gunmen began shooting, with officers firing at suspect Naveed Akram, 24, according to the AFR.

At the time, Akram’s father, Sajid, appears hobbling next to his son on the footbridge overlooking the beach after he was disarmed by local hero Ahmed al Ahmed.

Sajid, 50, is then fatally shot by police and falls to the ground. Akram is shot and detained moments later.

In total, 103 shots were fired during the chaotic scene, about 83 of which are attributed to the gunmen, according to the AFR and an audio analyst at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute.