Instead, the gunman and getaway driver returned to Bankstown Central on April 29, 2016 and successfully carried out the hit, possibly with the help of up to two other people.

As the high-profile and unsolved murder approaches its first anniversary, new detail about the level of planning that went into taking out the crime figure can be revealed.

A review of hours of CCTV from in and around the shopping centre has led police to believe the murder may have been planned for a day earlier.

Video footage captured a luxury vehicle drive into the car park, close to Ahmad, who had just finished a gym session.

At the time, Ahmad was spotted near the neighbouring Havana Cafe and uniformed police officers walked past him.

Investigators believe those officers, and the presence of a marked police car in the car park, spooked Ahmad's would-be attackers.

CCTV captured the car speeding away from the shopping centre, without a shot being fired.

Then 24 hours later, a sole gunman ran up to Ahmad as he sat at the same cafe and fired a number of shots, killing the 40-year-old.

To try and throw police off their track, it is understood the gunman and accomplices swapped getaway vehicles up to three times.

They abandoned the initial getaway car, a white Mercedes, which was found torched in Greenacre, before getting into a second vehicle.

It is believed they then planned to get into a third car, with another driver behind the wheel, and torch the second vehicle.

But those plans were scrapped due to a helicopter hovering above the crime scene at Bankstown Central, police suspect.

Investigators believe the suspects thought the flames from the torched car would be easily spotted from the air and give away their location.

Ahmad's death was the second in a chain of underworld shootings, which police believe may be linked to a dispute between well-known southwest Sydney families.

A suspect in Ahmad's shooting, crime figure Hamad Assaad, was shot dead in the driveway of his Georges Hall home six months later.

Five months after that, a suspect in Assaad's shooting - Hells Angels figure and Ahmad family associate Kemel "Blackie" Barakat - was murdered in his Mortlake unit.

Despite the demise of two key suspects in these underworld slayings, police say the investigations, which come under Strike Force Osprey, are still very much active.

"While each murder is being investigated individually, relevant information is shared across the teams," Homicide Squad commander Detective Acting Superintendent Jason Dickinson said.

"Despite speculation about the involvement of victims and their associates in other incidents, our investigations are very much ongoing.

"Our focus is gathering evidence and putting those responsible for the murders before the courts."