Bali Nine drug smuggler Renae Lawrence has pushed a reporter out of the way in chaotic scenes at Brisbane airport.
As she exited the arrivals hall, Lawrence appeared teary and overwhelmed as she was pursued by journalists asking for comment before boarding a transfer bus to the domestic terminal.
Lawrence's mother said her daughter had nothing to say after the plane carrying them from Indonesia touched down.
Bali Nine drug smuggler Renae Lawrence was pursued by media as she made her way to the terminal transfer bus. Source: AAP
Lawrence was travelling with her mother Bev Waterman and stepbrother Allan Waterman on the international flight which arrived about 5.45am AEST on Thursday.
"We don't want to comment. We've got nothing to say. Please, just leave us," Mrs Waterman told reporters soon after the group disembarked and were making their way to the customs area.
She's expected to board a domestic flight for her hometown of Newcastle later on Thursday morning.
The 41-year-old, wearing sun glasses, was surrounded by heavily armed mobile brigade police and did not respond to questions shouted at her by journalists.
The black SUV with tinted windows took her to Denpasar airport where she was escorted through a VIP entrance before her flight back to Australia with her mother Bev Waterman and stepbrother Allan Waterman.
Bali Nine drug smuggler Renae Lawrence is seen after being released from Bangli Prison. Source: AAP
Lawrence was expected to receive a new Australian passport at the airport.
White-shirted Justice Department officials had minutes earlier announced her release and that all processes, including a health check, had been completed.
"We have issued a release from the prison ... and the prison has already conducted a health check and the result is the prisoner was healthy," a senior Bali justice official told the media outside the jail.
"This is the paper that shows she is now a free woman," he said, showing the document.
Head of Bali's justice and human rights office Maryoto Sumadi shows the release paper of Renae Lawrence. Source: AAP
He said the immigration department would process Lawrence and she would be driven to the immigration detention centre at the airport before departing for Australia.
He also said Lawrence had been banned from returning to Bali but would still be able to apply to return.
Lawrence was arrested at Denpasar airport in April 2005 with 2.7 kilograms of heroin strapped to her body as part of a bid to smuggle a total of eight kilograms of heroin into Australia.
The two ringleaders, Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran were executed in 2015, while Tan Duc Thanh Nguyen died from cancer in May this year serving a life sentence.
The other members - Scott Rush, Michael Czugaj, Martin Stephens, Matthew Norman and Si Yi Chen - are all serving life sentences.
Renae Lawrence has spent 13 years behind bars. Source: AAP
Lawrence's original life sentence was reduced to 20 years on appeal and has been reduced for good behaviour and other remissions.
She completed a successful smuggling trip in 2004 for Chan who she said had threatened to kill her family if she told anyone.
Lawrence told her trial Chan made the same threats before their fateful plot the following year.
A local doctor who visits Bangli prison is reported to have prescribed anti-depressants to help Lawrence cope with anxiety before her long-awaited chance for a new start in life.
When she returns, the former panel beater from Newcastle is facing two arrest warrants from NSW police that have been outstanding since 2005.
One warrant alleges she was involved in a high-speed chase in a stolen car.
But NSW Police Commissioner Mick Fuller has indicated a deal with her lawyers was more likely than handcuffs on the tarmac when she flies in.
