She would tell her colleague and friend, Christopher Edward, about gaining the courage to divorce her husband, trying to buy her own house, helping her children through high school and grappling with her decision to stop wearing her hijab.

"I remember those conversations ... and the biggest message she got from her life was that she was a failure as a mother," Mr Edward said.

On Monday night, Mrs Haydar, 45, was allegedly stabbed to death by her estranged husband Haydar Haydar, 58, making her the seventh domestic violence victim in NSW this year.

Her daughter Ola, 18, suffered serious stab wounds to her hands when she tried to intervene to protect her mother in an attack described by police as "quite violent" and "disturbing".

It came two days before the government appointed Pru Goward as its first Minister for the Prevention of Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault, signalling a landmark shift on efforts to eliminate family violence.

Horrified and devastated by Mrs Haydar's death, Mr Edward has spoken out to demand that his much-loved friend be the last woman to die from domestic violence.

"You can't take more mothers from their families, you can't take more daughters from their mothers, it needs to stop," he said. "My ultimate wish is that her bravery and confidence and everything she was fighting for is of some benefit to other people."

Mrs Haydar, a mother of four, had suffered the death of her mother in a missile attack in Lebanon in 2006. In 2013, she decided to leave her husband and it was clear to her colleagues that she was struggling.

Some days she would come in to work as a counsellor at St Vincent's Hospital's Quitline and be laughing and smiling. Other days she would cry at her desk, worried about the impact her decision was having on her children.

One day she arrived at work with a black eye, said Mr Edward, now an intern psychologist at another hospital.

"She would often question whether she was doing the right thing by leaving her husband," he said. "We all saw it as brave but she saw it as ruining her family, she thought she was being a worse mother for it, she cried nearly every day."

By late 2013, Mrs Haydar had found a place of her own in Valda Street, Bexley. It's believed Mr Haydar, a taxi driver, had returned from a funeral in Lebanon just days before going to the modest brick home on Monday night and allegedly stabbing her multiple times.

He then drove straight to Kogarah Police station to hand himself in.

Sporadic posts on his Facebook page last year included sermons or daily thoughts on controlling one's anger and walking away from violence.

Mr Edward said colleagues tried to help Mrs Haydar on many occasions but she seemed strong-willed and on the path to becoming confident on her own.

Her death should be a wake-up call to every Australian, he said.

"It can only go on for so long until everybody will start getting hurt by domestic violence, everyone will know someone who is a victim," he said.

"It's not just up to the person to ask for help, it's up to the people around them too. We need to be looking out to see if friends are OK, if family members are OK."

Mrs Haydar, who had worked as a multicultural domestic violence welfare officer before becoming an anti-smoking counsellor, hinted to colleagues that she had been shunned by community members for ending her marriage.

Eman Sharobeem, chief executive of the Immigrant Women's Health Service, said it was a common experience for migrant women, who often encounter oppressive cultural expectations to stay with violent partners.

"They're told it's good that they have a husband, they have a roof over their head, they have the title of wife," she said. "They accept violence as part of the deal."

Last month, the Muslim Women's Association filled a critical gap in services by launching a multimillion-dollar initiative to provide refuges for migrant women across south-west Sydney.