At 10:18 on Monday, Erin Patterson was led from courtroom four inside Melbourne's Supreme Court building to begin a life sentence in prison.
Her slow shuffle took her directly past two rows of wooden benches squeezed full of journalists, each scrutinising Patterson's exit for any final detail.
Upstairs in the public gallery, observers craned their necks to get a last glimpse – possibly for decades, perhaps ever – of the seemingly ordinary woman who is one of Australia's most extraordinary killers.
Also watching her was Ian Wilkinson, the only survivor of Patterson's famous mushroom meal in 2023, a cruel murder plot the judge decried as an enormous betrayal.
Mr Wilkinson had for months walked in and out of court without uttering a public word. He always wore a black sleeveless jacket to keep warm in the winter chill, having never fully recovered from the death cap mushrooms that took his wife and two best friends.
But on Monday he paused on the courthouse steps to speak to media for the first time. He calmly thanked police who brought to light the truth of what happened to three good people and the lawyers who tried the case for their hard work and perseverance.
There was praise too for the medics who saved his life and tried desperately to halt the other lunch guests' brutal decline.
For the 71-year-old, it is now back to the house he had shared with Heather, his wife of 44 years, who raised their four children before becoming a teacher and mentor.
The silence in our home is a daily reminder, he told the court a fortnight ago, as he gave an emotional victim impact statement.
[There's] nobody to share in life's daily tasks, which has taken much of the joy out of pottering around the house and the garden. Nobody to debrief with at the end of the day.
I only feel half alive without her, he added.
To most, Heather Wilkinson will be remembered as one of Patterson's victims - an unfortunate lunch guest in a murder with no clear motive.
But to her husband, the pastor at a Baptist church, Mrs Wilkinson was his beautiful wife - not perfect, he said, but full of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, faithfulness and self-control and also sage advice.
It's one of the distressing shortcomings of our society that so much attention is showered on those who do evil, and so little on those who do good, he said in his victim impact statement - a barely hidden flash of frustration at how much focus had been on his wife's killer.
Justice Christopher Beale on Monday said Patterson had traumatised four generations of the Patterson and Wilkinson families and wrought indescribable sorrow on the communities that clearly adored them.
Erin was embraced as part of the Patterson family. She was welcome and treated with genuine love and respect in a way she did not appear to experience from her own family, Beale said, reading a tranche of a statement tendered to the court.
Addressing Patterson herself, Justice Beale described her actions as the worst kind of offending, resulting in a life sentence while denying her any feelings of pity for her victims.
He urged that the community be respectful in allowing the Wilkinson family the privacy they need to grieve and heal after this tragic event.
As the media frenzy surrounding the case continues, Mr Wilkinson made a heartfelt plea for kindness and respect from the public, emphasizing the need for compassion during such a difficult time.
