Australian Renae Lawrence, heroin smuggling fiasco, can be funny and self-deprecating, according to an expatriate who has visited her.
This included cracks about some members of the media seeing her prejudicially as a "fat lesbian" in contrast with other "pretty" Australian women jailed overseas being afforded more public support.
Traumatised over the dawning reality that she will soon have to face life back in the place of her birth, the 41-year-old still manages to present a 'tough nut' exterior.
However, those who know the panel beater, also previously a caterer, say she has mellowed within.
The Hindu-animistic spirituality of the Indonesian tourist Mecca of Bali had fomented a "little bit of Zen", not least through gardening in her most recent prison's spacious grounds.
In the shadow of an active volcano in eastern Bali, Bangli prison has been a saviour of sorts since she was moved there in 2014.
Her life went spectacularly off-track in 2005 when she was caught with 2.7 kilograms of heroin strapped to her body at Bali's main airport while attempting to fly to Australia.
Renae Lawrence is taken to Kerobokan Jail after her trial in 2005. Source: AAP
Her existence has been a rollercoaster of ups and downs ever since
With the drama of court appeals done and dusted, Lawrence became the only one of the nine Australians not either serving a life sentence, or in the cases of Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran, executed by firing squads.
One of the Bali Nine, Tan Duc Thanh Nguyen, died in custody from cancer earlier this year.
Associates say that being the first to be released, with good behaviour remissions on a 20-year sentence, was due in part to her 'rolling over' and admitting guilt.
During her time at Kerobokan Prison, which has men's and women's sections, the heavy-set Lawrence was considered something of a 'top dog' among many of the female inmates.
Some called her 'Daddy' as she became something of a father figure, not least because of her aptitude to fix broken prison cell fixtures, but also a penchant to arbitrate on disagreements.
Some guards turned to her to help keep order and the jail's central location facilitated visits from family members and friends.
Renae had a romantic relationship with a female inmate that did not last, but despite problems with anger management and depression, she survived.
Things took a turn for the worse when in 2013 another inmate accused her of planning to kill a guard with a machete.
Even though there was nothing to substantiate the claim, she was shifted to distant and harsh Negara prison.
Bali's Kerobokan jail, where the Australian was held. Source: AP
"There were ten women in a cell like a cage- it was terrible, really depressing," an associate told AAP.
Within a year, she was moved to Bangli prison where there were open spaces and trees.
Relieved at no longer being in Negara, she still missed Kerobokan where there were many freedoms - in contrast to the cliche that holds all Asian jails are 'hell-holes'.
But Lawrence became resigned to the fact that she would not be going back to Kerobokan and was influenced by the Balinese sense of finding inner peace through communing with nature.
"Renae was able to rebuild," said a fellow Australian.
That greater calm started to fray in recent weeks and days. A doctor who visits Bangli Prison reportedly prescribed 'anti-depressants' to help her prepare to return to Australia.
She is scheduled on Wednesday to make a two-hour drive by car past forests, mountains and rice fields before reaching the bustling - ranging from glitzy to ragged - Bali capital, Denpasar, from where she will fly back to Australia.
Convicted drug smuggler Renae Lawrence with an Indonesian prison official during her trial. Source: Getty Images
One of her concerns is over media attention that will inevitably descend in Australia on her and her family.
Friends of Renae Lawrence stress that she wants to do all she can to minimise further suffering for those who care for her despite the mistake that has torn at her soul.
She is reported to have taken part in a cleansing Hindu ritual inside Bangli Prison.
Lawrence faces the prospect of arrest in Australia over a former offence involving a police car chase.
