FIVE Australians trapped in the Indonesian province of Papua for six months and facing lengthy prison terms for illegally entering the country in a small plane have been freed and hope to return home today.

William Scott-Bloxam, the pilot whose idea it was to take a joyflight to the Papuan city of Merauke without a visa in September last year, said he was "very relieved … very, very happy".

"We went for a long weekend and just stayed a bit longer," he joked.

The original decision by Merauke's district court left Mr Scott-Bloxam facing a three-year prison term for immigration offences, while his passengers - his wife, Vera, Hubert Hufer, Karen Burke and Keith Mortimer - faced two-year stretches.

"All of us were absolutely astounded by the original decision. In fact, the whole of Merauke was, all the people who were looking after us. Nobody expected it. People were crying when it happened."

Until that decision in January, the five had been living in relative comfort in a Merauke home after being placed under city arrest. They were then moved to prison while they prepared and then lodged their appeal.

The appeal was successful yesterday after the High Court of Papua found that the trip was innocent and accepted that Mr Scott-Bloxam had told the air-traffic controller at Merauke airport that he and his passengers did not have visas before he was told to land his plane.

Their initial arrest sparked press speculation that the five were being held on suspicion of being spies.

"That was some journalist's imagination," Mr Scott-Bloxam said. "That did not help us at all. We would certainly be a bunch of geriatric spies."

Mr Scott-Bloxam took the journey to Papua after another pilot had told him he did not need to get a visa. "I should have checked," he said, with some understatement.


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Five Australians jailed for illegally entering West Papua are relieved their ordeal has finally come to an end, after winning an appeal against their convictions.

William Scott-Bloxam, 62, his wife Vera, 54, and their three friends Karen Burke, 51, Hubert Hofer, 57 and Keith Mortimer, 60, were preparing to return home on Wednesday after spending six months in an Indonesian prison.

The Merauke District Court on Tuesday announced the decision by the Jayapura High Court delivered last week to overturn their convictions.

Scott-Bloxam, the pilot of the light plane that entered Indonesian airspace without permission and landed in Merauke, West Papua, on September 12 last year, said the group was ready to fly back home as soon as they got clearance from Indonesian authorities.

"According to our lawyers, we are now free", Scott-Bloxam told AAP by phone from Merauke, shortly after being informed of the decision.

"All of us are looking forward to getting home and trying to get our lives back together.

"This has done a lot of damage to all of our lives in one way or another.

"If somebody snaps six months off you, obviously it's not difficult to imagine the stress that's gone through everyone's lives and our families back home," Scott-Bloxam said.

"We had planned on spending a long weekend here, but it turned out to be a lot longer.

"We have been under detention since the minute we landed."

Even after being formally charged with illegally entering Indonesia, the five Australians never believed they would be convicted and jailed.

"We were completely stunned. Even the Merauke people were absolutely flabbergasted that this had happened," Scott-Bloxam said.

"We had a lot of people saying, `Don't worry, it'll be okay'. That phrase is going to stay with me forever. We're just glad that (High Court) decision was made and we are on our way home."

The group's lawyer, Mohammad Rifan from Austrindo Law Office, said he had received a copy of the decision from Merauke District Court chief judge Desbeneri Sinaga.

The District Court in Merauke has confirmed the decision from the High Court, to cancel all of the penalties and the fines and to release the five from any charges under Indonesian law, Rifan told AAP.

The judge instructed Scott-Bloxam to fly the aeroplane with his four passengers back to Australia as soon as possible.

They have already packed their bags.

Scott-Bloxam said he did not expect to get clearance to leave until Wednesday, when all the paperwork would be completed.

He said the ordeal had not put him off visiting Indonesia again.

"I'm sure we will visit Indonesia again. They are like our neighbours, we only live an hour away."

The five Australians, from Cape York on Australia's northern tip, would fly back to Horn Island in the Torres Strait, where they had embarked on their ill-fated joy-ride.

In January, the District Court jailed Scott-Bloxam for three years and fined him 50 million rupiah ($A6,500) for flying a small plane into Indonesian airspace without permission.

Each of his passengers was sentenced to two years jail and given a 25 million rupiah ($A3,250) fine.

The Jayapura High Court last week overturned the convictions.

However, under Indonesian law, the District Court that originally convicted the five must review the higher court decision before formally announcing the outcome of the appeal.

Rifan said the High Court decision upheld the Australians' argument that the air traffic controller and immigration officers failed in their duties by firstly allowing the plane to land, and secondly allowing them to enter the region.

According to Indonesian law, the pilot's request for landing approval should have been denied and the plane should have been ordered out of Indonesian airspace, Rifan said.

The five, who were initially suspected of being foreign spies, had described their trip as a sightseeing flight and mistakenly believed they could get visas on arrival in Papua.

There are strict restrictions placed on visiting Papua, which has been troubled by a low-level separatist insurgency since the 1960s.

Journalists are barred from entering the province without special permission, and human rights groups have accused the Indonesian military of widespread human rights abuses there.