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Six long years on from the Bali bombings, Australians still grieving for those who died have expressed a mix of joy and trepidation over the executions of the men responsible.
There were tears of relief from Maria Kotronakis of Sydney after she learned that the three Islamic militants
who helped kill her two sisters and two cousins had been put to death by firing squad.
"We're very happy ... we've waited a very long time for this and this is our justice," Kotronakis told CNN, struggling at times to speak.
She said she felt nothing for Mukhlas, Amrozi and Imam Samudra, saying they "lost their rights to anything that's human" when they bombed two Bali nightclubs in October 2002, killing 202 people including 88 Australians.
"We lost four beautiful girls that did nothing wrong. There was nothing they ever did wrong to have been executed the way they were."
The bodies of the bombers were brought from the prison island of Nusakambangan to their villages in east and west Java.
Thousands of sympathisers turned out in the towns of Tenggulun and Serang to welcome them home. Some radicals lined the streets, chanting "God is great!" and calling the men martyrs as helicopters carrying the caskets touched down.
Dozens clashed briefly with police on a small road in Tenggulun, home to the two brothers, slightly injuring one officer, but there were no other reports of violence.
The bombers were sentenced to die in 2003, but five years of legal appeals delayed their executions and exhausted those waiting for justice.
Erik de Haart, a member of Sydney's Coogee Dolphins football club who lost six mates in the bombings, said he didn't quite believe the news when he heard it.
"It took a while to sink in. It's been so long that you kind of don't expect it ... you think they've found another excuse not to do it," he told Sky News. "We can close this chapter of the book and move on a bit."
But he said the grief for his lost friends Shane Foley, Josh Iliffe, Adam Howard, Clint Thompson, David Mavroudis and Gerard Yeo would never end.
"The guys are never going to come back, all we're left with is our memories and our thoughts of these guys."
Clint Thompson's brother Trent, who is vice-president of the club, said there was no joy about the bombers' deaths but there was relief. "It hasn't brought anyone back. Everyone is still dead."
But he said the bombers were "probably in a better place for everyone right this second" given the "vomit" that used to come from their mouths.
Thompson said members of the Dolphins planned to get together at the Beach Palace Hotel in Coogee yesterday to commemorate the lives of those killed.
Survivor Peter Hughes, of Perth, who suffered horrific burns in the bombings, said the three bombers had paid the highest price for mass murder, but their executions did not bring him any joy.
"It doesn't feel good but they did do the crime and they've paid for it," he told CNN.
Hughes, who received burns to more than 50 per cent of his body in the Paddy's Bar blast, said he had taken two years to recover, but the mental scars would always be with him.
"I was only a few metres away from the suicide bomber when the bomb exploded.
"At that point I struggled to get out of that nightclub, and as I went to walk out ... they set the car bomb off [outside the Sari Club].
"It was just horrific to see so many people just lying there and burning, basically burning to death. It's too close, the memories, too fresh.
"You cop it mentally and I guess that's the worst scar of all because you're living it every day ... It's all over for them [the bombers] now, but I've still got to get up tomorrow and do the exact same thing."
In Bali, Tumini, an Indonesian Muslim who still bears the scars of severe burns, said she was "very happy" to hear the bombers were dead. "For six years, I have been waiting for this. My only hope now is that no more of their family - their siblings and children - will follow in their footsteps."
The executions were considered politically sensitive, with general elections less than six months away. President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono risks losing the votes of conservative Muslims. The Government is also worried about a security backlash.
Security forces were placed on high alert ahead of the midnight executions with extra police deployed in their hometowns and at embassies, shopping centres and offices in the capital, Jakarta. The United States and Australian embassies received bomb threats in recent days.
- AAP, AP