Barnaby Joyce, Malcolm Roberts and other 'citizenship seven' MPs receive verdict - live from the High Court

End of the day for me - and what a day it was. What happened?

• the High Court found five of the citizenship seven MPs were ineligible to be in Parliament;
• the five are Barnaby Joyce, Fiona Nash, Malcolm Roberts, Larissa Waters and Scott Ludlam;
• the two declared safe are Matt Canavan and Nick Xenophon;
• a byelection will be held in Mr Joyce's seat of New England on December 2;
• this means the Turnbull government has lost its one seat majority on the floor of the House of Representatives;
• but it has the support of independent MP Cathy McGowan and Speaker Tony Smith has a casting vote when there is a tie;
• Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull says he is disappointed by the court's decision but the business of government will continue;
• but the opposition says Australia now has a minority government because Barnaby Joyce broke the law.

My thanks to Andrew Meares for his amazing work and to you for reading and commenting.

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Andrew, Alex Ellinghausen and I will be back on November 15 to bring you the result of the same-sex marriage postal survey. Until then - go well.

I'm getting ready to sign off but before I do I'll share this piece by Mark Kenny with you.

"Dismiss all the desperate spin and sugar-coating. Nothing can obscure the fact that these are dark days for the government and a humiliation for the Prime Minister personally," Mark writes.

"While Malcolm Turnbull cannot be blamed for the Nationals' slap-dash vetting procedures going back decades, his ill-judged bullishness in response to the citizenship questions once they arose was all his own work."

The man likely to replace Malcolm Roberts, Fraser Anning, says he looks forward to joining the Senate.

He wants to assure people he is definitely not a dual citizen. And he's not particularly sympathetic to the plight of the five MPs who were disqualified - including, ahem, Malcolm Roberts.

"It's infuriating that the Australian taxpayer has had to stump up millions of dollars to pay for a court decision just because five people couldn't get their act together to do what was required by the constitution," Mr Anning said in a statement.

Malcolm Roberts wears a senator's pin to a his press conference on Friday.Credit: Andrew Meares

Tony Wright, The Age's national affairs editor, was at the High Court when the decision was announced.

"Well before the blade descended upon the formerly powerful, there was not a seat to be had in the High Court of Australia," Tony writes.

"The 120 available spots on the main tiers of Court One, its ceiling soaring almost to the height of an everyday three-storey building, were crammed half an hour before judgment was to be declared."

Barnaby Joyce in Tamworth earlier today.Credit: Peter Hardin

The National Party isn't mucking about.

It has already sent out an email plea asking for donations for Barnaby Joyce's reelection campaign.

"Regional Australia is on the verge of losing its biggest advocate," the email says.

"With Barnaby's position at risk, the odds are stacked against us. Every man and his dog will be looking to discredit him and the good work he's done for the bush and his local community."

"But Barnaby has never backed away from a fight - and this one is no different. Now it's time for us to take one for the team and help our fearless leader return to government."

Special Minister of State, Scott Ryan, says the behaviour of Barnaby Joyce, Fiona Nash and Matt Canavan has been "exemplary".

He indicates he is unlikely to pursue any of the now-disqualified MPs for their past wages.

When asked, Senator Ryan cannot say who will be acting prime minister but he thinks it might be Julie Bishop.

The National Party president, former Howard government minister Larry Anthony, has confirmed Mr Joyce remains the leader of the party - but not in the Parliament.

Indigenous Affairs Minister Nigel Scullion becomes the interim parliamentary leader.

If you're not familiar with this amazing story from Senator Scullion's past I strongly recommend you familiarise yourself with it.

Senator Nigel Scullion.Credit: Andrew Meares

In case you're not on twitter my press gallery colleagues are doing some freelance headline work.

PM takes on water, Sky News' Lyndal Curtis suggests.

Canavan rolls on, counters The Australian Financial Review's Phil Coorey.

Prime Minister Malcom Turnbull with the Governor-General, Sir Peter Cosgrove, and Resources Minister Matt Canavan on Friday.Credit: Andrew Meares

Mr Turnbull has been sworn in as Agriculture and Water Minister.

"Congratulations," the Governor-General, Sir Peter Cosgrove, says.

Matt Canavan has been sworn in Resources Minister and Minister for Northern Australia.

Prime Minister Malcom Turnbull with the Governor-General, Sir Peter Cosgrove, after the swearing in ceremony on Friday.Credit: Andrew Meares

Tony Windsor has confirmed he will not stand against Mr Joyce in the New England byelection.

"I actually love elections, I've enjoyed the eight that I have contested but my wife doesn't and she had a pretty rough time last time with the tactics and strategies that were used not only against me, but also against the families," he said.

"I had a good yarn to her again this morning. I think it's time she prevailed."