Bali Nine pair Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran executed

The family of the Bali Nine pair executed in Indonesia early this morning have began the long journey home, according to reports.

They are currently traveling with a convey of diplomats to the Indonesian capital of Jakarta.

The doomed Bali Nine ringleaders Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran were put to death after spending 10 years on death row at Bali's Kerobokan prison. They were executed by firing squad in the early hours of Wednesday morning.

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Both families released this statement:

"Today we lost Myuran and Andrew. Our sons, our brothers. In the ten years since they were arrested, they did all they could to make amends, helping many others. They asked for mercy, but there was none. They were immensely grateful for all the support they received. We too, will be forever grateful."

Chan and Sukumaran were taken by separate cars to the west coast of Nusakambangan -- the so-called execution island.

Sukumaran earlier told his relatives he would refuse a blindfold.

Fourteen officers from Indonesian police taskforce Brimob - whose unit motto is 'My Soul for the Sake of Humanity' - fired at each of the prisoners.

Eleven shots were blank. Three were live.

As the countdown to the execution began, supporters of the two men gathered at Cilacap port.

With ten minutes to go before the midnight deadline, they sobbed and hugged each other.

On a small CD player, they played Hallelujah.

One of the inmates on death row, Filipina Mary Jane Veloso, was spared after someone suspected of recruiting her and tricking her into carrying drugs to Indonesia turned herself in to authorities in the Philippines.

"Miracles do come true," her mother Celia told a Philippine radio station, adding that her daughter's two young boys were awake and yelling

"Yes, yes mama will live".

The Philippine government also expressed delight at the reprieve for Veloso, whose case attracted emotive appeals for mercy from boxing superstar Manny Pacquiao among others.

"The Lord has answered our prayers," Foreign Affairs Department spokesman Charles Jose said, as activists holding a vigil in front of the Indonesian embassy in Manila broke into cheers and hugged each other.

Those same prayers were not answered for any of the other death row inmates.

Australia's Consul General to Bali, Majell Hind, will receive the bodies of Chan and Sukumaran and take legal responsibility for them on the island.

They will be driven to Jakarta by local ambulance with an Australian consular officer following the execution.

The Australians' bodies will then be flown back to Sydney.

The executions were conducted despite last-minute maneouvres by the Federal Government and the final, harrowing pleas for mercy from the Chan and Sukumaran familes.

Families, lawyers mourn for executed men

The devastated families of Chan and Sukumaran are beginning to speak of their enormous grief after the two men were executed.

The anger felt by Andrew's brother, Michael Chan, was on raw display.

Chan and Sukumaran's Indonesian lawyer Todung Mulya Lubis appeared to be struggling with deaths he fought for years to stop.

Amnesty International condemned the executions as cruel, senseless and abhorrent act of state-sanctioned murder.

"Despite promising steps away from the death penalty prior to 2013 and four years without any executions, Indonesia's resumption of this cruel and inhuman punishment has put them well out of step with the rest of the world," Amnesty campaigner and human rights lawyer Diana Sayed said in a statement.

Australian politicians have also begun to express their anger at Indonesia's steadfast refusal to act on years of appeals to spare the men for their drug crimes.

A joint statement released by the Australian embassy in Jakarta said: “The governments of Australia, France and the European Union call on President Widodo to halt the planned executions. It is not too late to change your mind."

But any hope was lost when the Indonesian Attorney General HM Prasetyo confirmed soon after that the executions would proceed after midnight local time.

"That's what our laws decided. We say our courts are open, fair and nothing is closed," he said.

“We have explained that we're not against them (personally).

“What we fight is the serious crime of drugs.”

Cancelling the executions would show that Indonesia was soft on drugs, he said.

President Joko Widodo has been determined to push ahead with the execution of the nine convicts, who include foreigners from Australia, Brazil, Nigeria and the Philippines as well as one Indonesian.

The joint statement said: "In filing this petition, we ask Indonesia to reflect upon the impact on Indonesia's position in the world and its international reputation.

"We support Indonesia's efforts in obtaining clemency for its citizens abroad. Stopping this execution will help those efforts,” the statement said.

“We fully respect the sovereignty of Indonesia. But we are against the death penalty in our country and abroad. The execution will not have a deterrent effect on drug-trafficking or stop others from becoming victims of drug abuse. Executing these prisoners now will not achieve anything.”

As the so-called masterminds of the Bali Nine drug smuggling syndicate, the duo has never ventured far from the media's glare, with their protracted legal processes, rehabilitation and haunting countdown to death chronicled.

The poster boys of the infamous 2005 drug bust and its devastating repercussions, what do we really know about Sukumaran and Chan?

Here we take a look at their backgrounds and how they came to be two of Australia's most notorious drug mules.

Myuran Sukumaran

Sukumaran, 34, was born in London in 1981 and moved with his Sri Lankan family to Australia when he was a child.

He dropped out of university and became involved in the Sydney drugs and party scene.

Enticed by the prospect of easy money, in 2005 he helped to organise a shipment of heroin destined for Australia.

Sukumaran and three others were arrested in a room at the Melasti Hotel after police raided it and discovered heroin in a suitcase.

According to the testimonies of convicted drug mules, Sukumaran and Chan were the masterminds of the smuggling operation of heroin from Indonesia to Australia.

On February 14, 2006, Sukumaran was sentenced to execution by firing squad.

He would spend the next 10 years incarcerated in Bali's Kerobokan jail pursuing and exhausting legal avenues in a bid to quash his death sentence.

On December 30, 2014, Indonesia's president Joko Widodo sealed Sukumaran's fate by rejecting a final plea for clemency.

While behind bars, Sukumaran demonstrated a 'remarkable transformation' and respectfully called for mercy on the basis that he had reformed his life.

He repeatedly asked to be given a second chance so that he could help others to rehabilitate and change their lives.

Committed to a new path, he became a model prisoner, teaching other inmates English and art.

Fondly known as the 'gentle giant' by his fellow inmates and prison guards, Myuran completed an arts degree while in jail, mentored by friend and renowned artist Ben Quilty.

His paintings became his form of expression, most notably in his chilling artwork depicting the final countdown to death.

A self-portrait with a gaping black hole through the head, depicting a bullet hole, had inscribed on its reverse 'Self portrait. Time is ticking.'

It was one of many chilling images painted in the hours before and after he learned he would be shot dead.

Andrew Chan

Like Sukumaran, Chan, 31, also hails from Sydney and attended Homebush Boys High School.

He was born in 1984 to Chinese-immigrant parents Ken and Helen, who spent some four decades running restaurants.

Chan, who has an older brother and two older sisters, started taking drugs when he was 16 and said his parents were unable to control him.

Just two years after Chan's parents retired, they were told their 21-year-old son had been arrested in Indonesia for being a ringleader of a heroin-smuggling gang.

After a criminal trial on February 2006, Chan was sentenced to death by a firing squad.

He too would spend the next 10 years incarcerated at Kerobokan prison, pleading the Indonesian Government for a pardon.

Chan's final plea for clemency was rejected by Indonesia's president Joko Widodo on January 22, 2015.

In jail, Chan had a positive influence on fellow inmates and changed many facets of life.

He became a committed Christian, led the English-language church service and became a mentor to many.

After six years of theology study, Chan was ordained as a minister in February.

In Julie Bishop's speech to Parliament, she said on the day he received the President's rejection of his clemency application, Chan 'took time out' to comfort a fellow inmate who was seriously ill.

In his last hours alive on Earth, Chan was granted one final and special wish.

He married his Indonesian fiancé, Feby Herewila, on the execution island of Nusakambangan, just hours before he was put to death.

It's understood the Chan and Sukumaran's final meals were boxes of KFC, which was seen by some as an odd show of generosity, as such special requests are usually rejected.