By Harriet Alexander
Australia's most notorious serial killer Ivan Milat has died, aged 74.
Milat died in Long Bay prison hospital about 4.07am on Sunday, Corrective Services NSW said in a statement.
Milat, who had been suffering from advanced oesophageal cancer, was serving seven life sentences for the murders of seven backpackers whose bodies were dumped in Belanglo Forest between 1989 and 1993 and is suspected of involvement in several other murders.
The former roadworker picked out his victims on highways, offering them a ride before subjecting them to torture that often involved rape or a sexual element, and then knifing or shooting them.
Melbourne hitchhikers Deborah Everist and James Gibson, both 19, were stabbed to death on December 30, 1989, likewise German backpacker Simone Schmidl, 21, a year later. In 1991 he tied up and decapitated German woman Anja Habschied, 20, and shot her partner Gabor Neugebauer, 21, in the head. British backpackers Caroline Clarke, 21, and Joanne Walters, 22, were respectively shot and stabbed.
He was also convicted of abducting British backpacker Paul Onions, who escaped, in 1990 and whose testimony helped convicted Milat at his 1996 murder trial.
Convicted murderer Ivan Milat leaves an appeal court in a police car on November 4, 1997.Credit: AP
Milat was diagnosed with stomach and oesophageal cancer in May and had been receiving chemotherapy at Prince of Wales Hospital.
There were some hopes that he would also confess to several other unsolved murders, including those of Leanne Goodall, Robyn Hickie and Amanda Robinson, missing from Newcastle since the late 1970s. Milat had been working in the region at the time.
But Milat continued to protest his innocence, consistent with the claims he had made throughout his trial and imprisonment, in defiance of families and police hoping for a deathbed confession.
His antics included typing the words "Ivan is innocent" on Dymo tape and plastering it around the walls of the prison and severing his finger with a plastic knife with the intention of sending it to the High Court to urge a review of his trial.
In a three-page letter to The Sydney Morning Herald in August, he attacked the lead investigator, NSW detective Clive Small, and claimed he was denied natural justice in the court proceedings.
Milat's nephew Alistair Shipsey, who believes his uncle was framed for the murders, said Milat was in a good state of mind when he visited him in hospital two days ago.
"All we did was talk about his case," Mr Shipsey said. "That's all we ever talked about – the lies, no case, no proof.
"To tell the truth, I'm glad he's out of pain ... I will remember him as an outstanding person in the family, that had a big heart. He's no murderer."
Milat's brother, Bill, was not told of his death until he was contacted by the media on Sunday morning, Bill's wife Carol told the Illawarra Mercury.
"They said they have to inform us before a media release [is issued]," Carol told the Mercury on learning of Milat's death. "Unbelievable."
At the time of his diagnosis, Milat had been living in solitary confinement in Goulburn's supermax prison, but was transferred to the hospital ward at Long Bay prison for the last months of his life.
He had reportedly lost 20 kilograms and weighed just 44 kilograms when he was transferred from the supermax.
Milat's death will be the subject of a coronial inquest according to the procedure afforded to all deaths in custody, including those from natural causes. His next-of-kin will be consulted on the disposal of his body.