As I sit and write this, Dr Kylie Moore-Gilbert is winging her way home to her family and freedom.

After over 800 days in captivity in harsh and often inhumane conditions, Kylie is finally free.

There are a great many people to thank for this, not least the Australian government, Foreign Minister Marise Payne and the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, for their unstinting and often delicate work behind the scenes in securing Dr Moore-Gilbert's release.

But there are also a small army of others who were determined to keep Dr Moore-Gilbert's story in the hearts and minds of the world.

I'd like to say a huge thank you to these groups - to the Free Kylie Moore-Gilbert group on Facebook who began as a support group and became strong advocates for her release in their own right, most recently putting together the 800 days 800 butterflies event.

To Kylie's friends and colleagues at the FreeKylieMG group for their tireless advocacy across all media and for ensuring her story gained maximum exposure and remained in the news.

To Students for Kylie Moore-Gilbert, a group of her former students and student supporters who ensured her compassion and skills as a teacher and mentor were not forgotten.

And to the staff and campaigners at Change.org for managing this petition and assisting in its success.

There is of course one group I haven't mentioned, a group of over a quarter of a million individuals from across the globe. A quarter of a million people who had the empathy and humanity to care about and stand up for a young woman who they didn't even know, who had been wrongly imprisoned and maltreated by a cruel and heartless regime. You are not ordinary people in any way, but special, and I thank each of you for it.

Over the last ten months we have raised awareness of Dr Moore-Gilbert's case and over 250,000 of you have raised your voices in support. If you have signed this petition and been affected by Dr Moore-Gilbert's plight please take a few minutes to search out the petitions for the other hostages held in Iran - there are many other families that deserve to be reunited.

And so the petition's work is done, yet Kylie's journey is far from over. Ahead of her is a long period of readjustment and recovery, of coming to terms with her freedom and allowing herself to trust once more. Above all she and her family need privacy and time, time to heal and time to be together.

I sincerely hope they get all the peace they deserve.