About 7pm, police were called to a house in Kennedy St after neighbours reported hearing a number of shots being fired.

Upon arriving at the address, police found a 25-year-old man dead inside the home with an apparent gunshot wound.

It is understood he shot the 26-year-old woman, believed to be his fiancee, with a single-barrel sawn-off shotgun before turning the weapon on himself.

The woman was found in a critical condition inside a bedroom of the home when police arrived.

She had suffered a gunshot wound to the head and was said to be in cardiac arrest.

The victim, whose name has not been officially released by police, wrote on her MySpace page recently that her partner was her hero.

“My hero is my man. No matter what goes wrong he always seems to fix it, I never have to worry about anything ’cause he always comes up with a solution,” she wrote.

Describing herself as the manager of a local bakery, she had also written: “I absolutely love my job, my puppy ... and my man.”

In the section where she was asked who she would like to meet, she had written: “If I had the opportunity to meet someone, I would have to say there is no one I would want to meet. Everyone I want to know is right here with me.”

Upon arrival at the scene, police administered first aid to the woman – who had just celebrated her birthday on June 30 – before she was rushed to Armidale Hospital by paramedics.

She died a short time later after attempts to revive her failed.

Reports the woman’s sister, an enrolled nurse, was at the home on Wednesday night but was told to leave by the man before she called Triple-0, have not been confirmed.

It is understood the dog described by the victim, and another belonging to the couple, were being looked after by neighbours.

The bodies of the man and woman have been taken to Newcastle where post mortems will be carried out at the weekend.