Tiffanie Turnbull
BBC News, Sydney

With her appeal against her convictions set aside by the Victorian Court of Appeal, Erin Patterson could now choose to take her case to the High Court of Australia.

Getting the nation's top court to even agree to hear a case is often a challenging and expensive endeavour.

Patterson has 28 days to decide if she wants to do that.

Let's bring you a few more comments from the judges who have just dismissed Patterson's appeal and upheld the prosecution's appeal against her sentence.

The prosecution had argued that Patterson shouldn't be allowed a non-parole period of 33 years. This meant she could apply to leave prison after that period was served.

The appeal judges agreed and she will now spend the rest of her life behind bars.

“This offending was extraordinarily cold and calculated and stands to be denounced in the strongest terms," Justice Peter Kidd said.

“We have concluded that the case involved such shocking criminality that it is inappropriate to fix a non-parole period.”

Image source, EPA

The part of rural Victoria where this crime took place is dotted with small towns and hamlets, which may at first appear quite isolated.

The reality is they are held together by close ties - ties which this case has rattled.

The community of Korumburra, where the victims were beloved figures, became shrouded in grief. Leongatha, where Patterson lived, was gripped by shock. The nearby towns of Loch and Outtrim were horrified by the prosecution suggestion their gardens may have produced the murder weapon. And Morwell, host of the lengthy trial, was overwhelmed by journalists, lawyers and spectators - as were towns nearby.

Many in these towns hope today's appeal decision will help close the door on what has been a painful chapter.

You can read more about how these towns have grappled with the case here.

The appeal judges have just ruled on the prosecution's appeal against Patterson's sentence, which they claimed was inadequate.

Justice Peter Kidd tells the court that the appeal is allowed and her non-parole period of 33 years is "set aside".

He says "the nature of appellant's offences makes the fixing of a non-parole period inappropriate".

Erin Patterson has lost her appeal, the judges have said, but the prosecution has won theirs - over her sentencing.

The judges have discarded the non-parole period set by the sentencing judge and ruled that the triple-killer can never be released from prison.

All the remaining grounds of appeal, five of them, have been dismissed

Ground two of Patterson's appeal has just been dismissed,

This argument claims that cell tower evidence and evidence of death cap mushroom sightings posted on a citizen scientist site were not relevant to the trial, unfairly prejudicial and has resulted in a "substantial miscarriage of justice".

Just moments ago, the judges said leave to appeal was granted, but ultimately they were unconvinced by the arguments and the appeal ground was dismissed.

Ground one of Patterson's appeal has just been dismissed by the judges.

This ground is about an accommodation booking mishap that saw the jury - as they were deliberating the verdict - stay at the same hotel as members of the prosecution, a key police witness and the media.

Patterson's lawyers say that this "fundamental irregularity" had "fatally undermined the integrity of the verdicts" - "justice cannot only be done but be seen to be done".

Justice Peter Kidd says the trial judge's tipstaff has said there was not interaction between the jury and other hotel guests.

"That ground is therefore unsuccessful," he says.

The three judges - Justices Peter Kidd, Stephen McLeish, Lesley Taylor - have just taken their seats at the bench.

The hearing is now underway.

It's almost 10:00 and the hearing on Patterson's appeal is about to get started.

A panel of three judges will hand down their decision.

Stay with us as we bring you the latest updates.

The three judges who are deciding on Patterson's appeal are:

• Justice Peter Kidd
• Justice Stephen McLeish
• Justice Lesley Taylor

As appeal court judges, they had no involvement with the trial in Morwell last year.

It'll be up to them to decide whether or not the appeals by both Erin Patterson and the public prosecutor are successful.

If they do not all agree on the decision, the case will be decided by a majority vote (two to one), so the opinion of the two agreeing judges becomes the final order of the court.

In a previous life before the murders, Patterson was active in true crime communities as an internet sleuth.

In a twist of fate, she has become the subject of obsession for true crime fans in Australia and around the world.

During her weeks-long trial last year, journalists and curious members of the public descended upon the small town of Morwell to catch a glimpse of Patterson.

Podcasts dedicated to the murder trial were updated daily; books have been published dissecting the case.

Despite a jury finding her guilty on all charges, the fascination with Patterson has not gone away.

This week it was announced that the Emmy-nominated actress Melanie Lynskey would play Patterson in the upcoming series Mushroom Murders: There's More To Unearth.

Image source, Getty Images

Tiffanie Turnbull
BBC News, Sydney

Last July, hundreds descended on Australia's Gippsland region from around the country for the most exciting event on the annual table tennis calendar.

But as elite players vied for medals at the national championships, one of the biggest criminal cases in the nation's history - that of mushroom murderer Erin Patterson - was unfolding just a few kilometres away.

This tournament inadvertently became part of a perfect storm which the triple killer's lawyers are now arguing "fatally undermined" the fairness of her trial.

The jury which condemned Patterson to prison were supposed to be isolated - sheltered from the frenzy surrounding the case while they deliberated - but accommodation shortages in the region meant they shared a hotel with members of the prosecution, a key police witness, and journalists.

Read why Patterson's lawyer say that is ground for appeal - and a re-trial.

As we wait for the court proceedings to start in about 40 minutes, let’s go through the possible outcomes for Patterson’s appeal against her guilty conviction:

• She loses her appeal
• She wins her appeal and a retrial is ordered
• She wins her appeal and she is acquitted

If Patterson loses her appeal, the court will hand down its decision on the prosecution’s appeal against her sentence which they claim is “manifestly inadequate”. The possible outcomes of that are:

• Appeal is dismissed and Patterson’s life sentence with a non-parole period of 33 years remains
• Appeal is upheld and the Court of Appeal will re-sentence Patterson

Image source, Getty Images

Prosecutors have filed an appeal of their own, arguing that the trial judge erred in handing Erin Patterson a life sentence that would allow her to apply for parole after 33 years.

Patterson should never be freed, according to the prosecutors, noting her mushroom poisonings fell into the "worst category" of offending.

Justice Christopher Beale last year agreed that Patterson's crimes were the worst of their kind, but said his decision to allow parole after 33 years was influenced by the "harsh prison conditions" she faced.

If the prosecution's appeal is successful, Patterson could see her parole period extended beyond 33 years. Or she may even be sentenced to life without parole.

Image source, Getty Images

Erin Patterson’s appeal against her guilty conviction argues that she didn’t receive a fair trial.

Firstly, her legal team say there are bits of evidence that jurors should never have seen as they were not relevant and prejudicial. They included mobile phone tracking data that suggested she went to areas where death cap mushrooms were and Facebook messages where she complained about her in-laws.

Patterson’s lawyers also argued that other evidence was wrongly excluded such as photos that would have proved her long-time hobby of mushroom foraging.

The prosecution was also inconsistent in arguing a motive, Patterson’s team argued, starting the trial by saying they wouldn’t argue a particular motive but then in their closing address, implying that there was a motive. The five days of cross-examination she underwent was also “unfair and oppressive”, Patterson argued.

The most intriguing part of Patterson’s appeal revolves around an unusual mishap which saw the jury - as they were deliberating the verdict - stay in the same hotel as members of the prosecution, a key police witness and the media.

The three people who died in hospital in the days after Patterson’s lunch in July 2023 were Patterson's in-laws, Don and Gail Patterson, both 70, and Gail's sister Heather Wilkinson, 66.

Heather's husband, local pastor Ian Wilkinson, recovered after weeks in an induced coma and still has ongoing health issues related to the poisoning.

Simon Patterson, Erin's estranged husband with whom she has two children, had been invited to the lunch too, but pulled out the day before. Their two children were not at the dinner.

Image source, Supplied

You can find a recap of all the twists and turns of last year's trial here.

Over nine weeks, the jury heard evidence suggesting Erin Patterson had foraged death cap mushrooms sighted in nearby towns and lured her victims to the fatal meal under the false pretence that she had cancer - before trying to conceal her crimes by lying to police and disposing of evidence.

Some key bits of evidence included:

• The orange plate: Survivor Ian Wilkinson recounted watching food go onto four grey plates - and an orange one for Erin. "I've puzzled about it since lunch," his wife had said, according to a witness. "Is Erin short of crockery?"
• An orange cake:Detailing the lunch publicly for the first time from the witness stand, Erin offered an explanation for why she herself had not suffered any symptoms: a secret struggle with bulimia. She said she had been regularly binge-eating and purging since her teens and had devoured the remains of an orange cake after her guests had left before throwing it up again.
• Red flags: As her victims suffered in hospital, Erin was covering her tracks, prosecutors alleged. The day after she was discharged from hospital, CCTV captured Erin travelling to a local dump and disposing of a food dehydrator later found to contain traces of poisonous mushrooms. She was also using three phones around the time of the lunch, two of which disappeared shortly afterwards. The one she did hand over to police had been repeatedly wiped.

Image source, Getty Images

Erin Patterson, who murdered three of her in-laws with death cap mushrooms hidden in a meal of beef Wellingtons at her home in Victoria in 2023, is to hear the result of her appeal this morning.

Patterson is serving a life sentence after killing her in-laws Don and Gail Patterson, both 70, and Gail's sister Heather Wilkinson, 66. Wilkinson's husband, Ian, was also poisoned but survived.

Three judges at Victoria’s Court of Appeal are set to hand down their judgment at 10:00 local time.

The court is also set to rule on the prosecution’s appeal against her sentence.

Image source, EPA/Shutterstock