A pair of armed robbers released several hostages but still held one person inside a bank during a daylong standoff Tuesday with sheriff's deputies near Walt Disney World.

A man and woman inside the Mercantile Bank traded a first hostage for cigarettes and a lighter, Local 6 News learned Tuesday night. The pair later traded a second woman (pictured) with a promise that SWAT team members would give them space and back off of the building.

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At about 2:40 p.m., a masked gunman emerged from the bank and drove a silver car to the front of the building before releasing the woman.

"It appears at this point as if there's just one hostage inside with the suspects," said sheriff's spokeswoman Twis Lizasuain after a woman emerged just before 3 p.m. EST.

No further information about her identity was available, and officials have only said the male hostage released was a bank employee.

The incident began Tuesday morning at 9:30 a.m. when officers responded to a bank robbery at the Mercantile Bank located at 7801 west U.S. Highway 192 in Osceola County's tourist corridor a mile west of Disney World.

Lizasuain said the couple told officers that they do not intend to harm anyone. She said at least one of the robbers was armed but did not specify a weapon.

The man and woman inside the bank are in disguise.

Local 6 News reported that the same bank was robbed last November by a man and woman who escaped with money. However, the two crimes have not been linked.

Also, it is the second incident in Osceola's tourist corridor in two days. Monday, an unidentified man led Osceola deputies on a chase along a 2-mile stretch of Osceola's tourist strip for two hours.

He shot a man, fired at officers and stole four cars during the chase on a road that leads to Walt Disney World before he killed himself.

Officers were trying to continue negotiations with the couple Tuesday night.

Watch Local 6 News for more on this developing story.