An emotional Harry Nicolaides has arrived home after spending almost six months in a Thai prison for criticising Thailand's royal family in a novel he wrote.
The Australian author said he was "bewildered and dazed, nauseous" shortly after touching down in Melbourne on Saturday afternoon.
The federal government said it did everything it could to lobby for his release.
Mr Nicolaides had a tearful reunion with his father Socrates, brother Forde and partner Jintana at Melbourne airport, saying he was happy to be home, but angry about his ordeal.
"I am angry, I am frustrated, I am perplexed," Mr Nicolaides said.
With tears streaming down his face he hugged family members.
"I learned only a few minutes before boarding my flight that my mother had suffered a stroke," Mr Nicolaides said.
"A few hours before then, I was informed I had a royal pardon and asked to kneel before a portrait of the king, a royal audience of sorts, and be informed that I had been pardoned.
"A few hours before that I was climbing out of a sewerage tank that I fell into in the prison," he said.
The Australian was first sentenced to six years' jail for the crime of lese-majeste, criticising the Thai royal family. That term was halved to three years in recognition of his guilty plea.
He had written a book entitled Verisimilitude, which sold just seven copies, which was a fictional account of life in Thailand.
Part of the book dealt with the sex life of an unnamed crown prince, and it was just 12 lines that caused his arrest and conviction.
Mr Nicolaides walked free from prison after Thailand's King Bhumibol Adulyadej issued a royal decree on Wednesday.
Foreign Affairs Minister Stephen Smith said he was pleased by the King's decision.
"We believe that we did everything that we could," he told reporters in Perth on Saturday.
"I welcome the fact that so soon after his pardon he has returned to his family and Australia."
"I think it is a measure of the good relationship between Australia and Thailand that the pardon was granted by the King of Thailand on Wednesday, the paperwork was completed on Friday and less than a day later, with the assistance of the Thai authorities, he was returned to Australia," Mr Smith said.
Opposition foreign affairs spokeswoman Julie Bishop also welcomed Mr Nicolaides' return.
"The imprisonment of Mr Nicolaides has been a traumatic experience for him and his family, particularly his elderly parents," she said in a statement.
"We are relieved that the appeals for clemency have been given sympathetic consideration by the king."
Despite the long ordeal, Mr Nicolaides said he never despaired while in jail.
"I ran out of tears, but I never ran out of hope or love," he said.
He also plans to write a tell-all book.
"I certainly will," he said.
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