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 said Patterson had traumatized four generations of the Patterson and Wilkinson families and wrought indescribable sorrow on the communities that clearly adored them.
Aggravating her offending even further was the fact her crimes were extensively planned – and she was so committed to their execution that, even as authorities grilled her for information that could help save the lunch guests' lives, she refused to help them.
But while Justice Beale was eviscerating of Patterson on Monday, Mr. Wilkinson was his characteristically gracious self.
Outside court, he didn't spare a single word for his wife's killer.
Instead, his final words to the public were a call to action.
Our lives and the life of our community depends on the kindness of others, he said.
I would like to encourage everybody to be kind to each other.
He ended with another appeal for people to respect his family's privacy as they continue to grieve and heal, and with some perhaps undeserved well wishes for the assembled media pack. Thank you for listening. I hope you all have a great day.
Erin Patterson now has until midnight on 6 October to appeal against her conviction or sentence.
