Greste confident of colleagues' release

"I'll see you when I see you."

Peter Greste's final words to his imprisoned Al-Jazeera colleagues were suitably understated.

But now he is back on home soil, the freed Australian journalist is confident he will eventually be able to turn those words into action.

The award-winning reporter touched down in Brisbane early on Thursday morning after being released from an Egyptian prison on Sunday and spending two days resting in Cyprus.

He was imprisoned for 399 days after being accused of spreading false news and supporting the banned Islamist movement of deposed president Mohamed Morsi.

Mr Greste's colleagues - Canadian-Egyptian Mohamed Fahmy and producer Baher Mohamed - remain behind bars on charges that have been described as politically motivated.

While he is elated to be back with his family, Mr Greste knows he has left two "brothers" behind.

"It was very difficult to leave them," he said.

"But I'm grateful to be out. I trust that they will follow in due course.

"We'll see them out."

The day the trio were slapped with hefty prison sentences was the toughest he endured because they had not really expected it.

But after the initial shock, they rallied together and tried to keep each other mentally and physically fit.

"But then, as now, we were confident of our position, of our innocence," Mr Greste said.

"We were confident that the process, if it was followed through to its logical conclusion, could only see us freed."

Mr Fahmy has surrendered his Egyptian passport, which was required for him to be released and deported as a foreign national under a decree in November by President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.

Mr Greste said the trio had always anticipated the possibility of being released at different times.

"That doesn't make it any easier," he said.

But with further time and sustained effort, Mr Greste was confident they would be reunited as free men.

And when they are, he has another suitably Australian response ready.

"I'm going to party with them very, very hard."