The groups targeted say action is needed as unrest rises to levels seen before March 15.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says the federal government supports action to stop Iranian nuclear capability after the US struck three facilities.

Albanese called for "dialogue and diplomacy" following the US military's attack on three nuclear sites in Iran while speaking to media today.

"The world has long agreed that Iran cannot be allowed to get a nuclear weapon and we support action to prevent that – that is what this is," Albanese said.

READ MORE: 'MAKE IRAN GREAT AGAIN': Trump threatens to topple government

"The US action was directed at specific sites central to Iran's nuclear program.

"We don't want escalation and a full-scale war."

Albanese echoed earlier sentiment about urging Iran to come to the negotiating table and to abandon its nuclear program.

"Iran didn't come to the table just as it has repeatedly failed to comply with its international obligations," he said.

"We urge Iran not to take any further action that could destabilise the region."

When asked if he has spoken to US President Donald Trump since news of the Iran strikes broke, Albanese said no.

Foreign Minister Penny Wong said the government is continuing to work with Australians stranded in Iran and Israel.

She said Australia has deployed support at the Azerbaijani border to help those able to make it there.

Wong earlier today also said the government supports the United States' strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities.

Speaking on Today this morning, Wong said the sites targeted by the United States were specific to Iran's nuclear program.

"We support action to prevent Iran getting a nuclear weapon," Wong said.

"We know what the UN nuclear watchdog has said … and that is that Iran is enriching to almost military levels … enough for multiple nuclear weapons."

READ MORE: Donald Trump threatens Iran with 'regime change'

Donald Trump announced yesterday that the United States had dropped "a full payload of bombs" on three of Iran's nuclear sites, claiming the country's nuclear enrichment facilities had been "completely and totally obliterated".

An Australian government spokesperson yesterday stopped short of offering an endorsement of the strikes.

In a statement, the spokesperson called for de-escalation in the Middle East, while also acknowledging the risk posed by Iran's nuclear program.

Wong said despite supporting the US strikes, ultimately what she and other world leaders were still calling for was "de-escalation and diplomacy", adding Australia did not want to see "a full-scale war and continued escalation in the Middle East".

Wong said the US had not made any request for involvement in the war from Australia.

"No such request has been made and I wouldn't speculate," Wong said. 

"But I again would say we are concerned, as are so many people around the world, about continued escalation. No-one wants to see full-scale war in the Middle East."

READ MORE: Operation Midnight Hammer: How US used 'decoys' in Iran attack

Wong acknowledged the plight of thousands of Aussies who are still stuck in both Israel and Iran and said Australia was still working on trying to help them evacuate.

"Obviously, this is a highly risky and precarious situation, and my heart goes out to Australians in Iran and in Israel, and to their friends and families in Australia who are so deeply worried about them," Wong said.

The security situation in Israel meant land crossing were not possible, but the government was working on trying to arrange contingency flights, Wong said.

"There are reports … of airspace opening for Israel for a limited period. We are working on contingency arrangements to see if we can get a flight in to collect people, and we have notified people on the ground about that." 

The situation in Iran was even worse and more serious, Wong said.

"We obviously have had to make the difficult decision to close our embassy," she said.

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Emergency CareFlight crews came to the rescue of a man and his dog in the Northern Territory after they became stranded in a boat in crocodile-infested waters.

A rescue helicopter was deployed to the South Alligator River in the Kakadu National Park earlier this month after the man in the boat activated his emergency beacon.

Upon arrival, both the man and his dog were safely winched from the vessel into the helicopter – neither had sustained any injuries.

READ MORE: Robbers make bizarre getaway after home invasion

"This was certainly one of the more memorable rescues for our team," Dean Blackney, Flight Nurse at CareFlight, said.

"We're trained for all kinds of scenarios, but it's not every day we winch up a dog!"

CareFlight said the successful rescue highlighted the importance of carrying an emergency beacon when travelling in remote areas.

Australia Post stamp price hikes of up to 60c per letter can be expected from next month after the national consumer watchdog announced it would not oppose the changes.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) today said it will not object to Australia Post's 13.3 per cent price increase, which is now slated to take effect from July 17.

Under the new price system, basic postage rates will rise from $1.50 to $1.70 for small letters, from $3 to $3.40 for ordinary large letters (weighing up to 125g) and $4.50 to $5.10 for the largest letters (up to 250g).

READ MORE: 'MAKE IRAN GREAT AGAIN': Trump threatens to topple government

The price of concession stamps and seasonal greeting cards won't change.

"We understand that these price increases will mean extra costs for consumers. However, our decision to not object to Australia Post's proposed price increase is based on evidence that the costs to Australia Post of providing the letter service are greater than the revenue it produces," ACCC Commissioner Anna Brakey said.

Brakey said Australia Post has incurred "significant losses" on its letter services over the past few years.

On average, the national postal service only delivers around two letters per household each week.

Letter volumes are also expected to plummet by another 10.6 per cent until 2028.

The ACCC has found it unlikely that Australia Post will recover its letter revenue, even with the proposed price increase.

READ MORE: Operation Midnight Hammer: How US used 'decoys' in Iran attack

READ MORE: 'Obliterated' or 'quite superficial'? What's really happened to Iran's nuclear sites

"Our final decision recommends Australia Post examine ways to alleviate affordability issues for businesses, including those subject to requirements to send physical mail," Brakey added.

"Further we made recommendations to address a number of other concerns expressed by stakeholders during consultation.

"We are especially mindful of the impact price changes can have on vulnerable Australians, and so our decision paper recommends that Australia Post increases the number of concession stamps per customer, which is currently capped at 50 per year."

Brakey noted the price increase of $1.70 for a single postage stamp is still below the median price of $1.93 for private postal operators.

Australia Post first proposed the price hike in November last year.

While the consumer watchdog did not have the authority to approve the proposed increases, it can object to the plan.

Unless rejected by the federal minister for communications, stamp prices are expected to increase from July 17.

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The American economy faces the unwelcome prospect of reignited inflation after the US launched strikes on three nuclear facilities in Iran.

High oil and petrol prices are a near certainty, experts say. The big question now: how long will the fossil fuels price spike last?

Oil prices are expected to rise by about $US5 ($7.72) a barrel when markets open on Sunday night local time, according to experts.

READ MORE: 'MAKE IRAN GREAT AGAIN': Trump threat

"We are looking at $US80 oil on the open," said Andy Lipow of Lipow Oil Associates.

US oil hasn't closed above $US80 a barrel since January and has largely hovered between $US60 and $US75 a barrel since August 2024.

Relatively tame oil prices have lowered petrol prices to below $US3 a gallon (about $1.22 a litre) in many parts of the country, a major source of price relief for inflation-weary consumers.

It's unclear if any major spike in oil prices will be sustained for a long period. Oil prices have risen about 10 per cent since Israel's surprise attack on June 13 and then fell on Friday after US President Donald Trump announced a two-week deadline on whether to strike Iran.

READ MORE: Senator says Australia can't back US in Middle East

"One shouldn't necessarily assume that just because the price of oil goes up, it's going to stay there. It doesn't," said Joe Brusuelas, chief economist for the accounting firm RSM.

The direction oil prices take is likely to depend on whether Iran's parliament decides to block the Strait of Hormuz, a key trade route that accounts for about 20 per cent of the world's crude oil.

On Sunday, Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said his country had "a variety of options" when deciding on how to respond to the US attacks; and a prominent adviser to Iran's supreme leader has already called for the closure of the Strait of Hormuz.

READ MORE: 'Obliterated' or 'quite superficial'? What's really happened to Iran's nuclear sites

Bob McNally, president of consulting firm Rapidan Energy Group and former energy adviser to president George W Bush, said that should Iran cut off the world's oil supply by closing the strait, it would risk more military force from the US and its allies.

Iran could also attack infrastructure in the Persian Gulf that treated and exported oil and gas.

"It's possible they will decide the only thing that can dissuade President Trump is the fear of an oil price spike," he said.

"They have to actually create that fear."

Appearing on Fox News, Secretary of State Marco Rubio called on China to prevent Iran from closing the Strait of Hormuz, adding that closing it would do more damage to other economies than the US economy. China buys a third of all oil that comes from the Persian Gulf, while the US buys less than 3 per cent.

"I encourage the Chinese government in Beijing to call them about that, because they heavily depend on the Strait of Hormuz for their oil," Rubio said.

Rubio added that closing the strait would hurt other countries' economies more than the US economy.

Meanwhile, American consumers may soon feel a price shock at the pump.

"It takes five days or so for stations to pass along the prices they see in one day. If oil markets do surge today and then tomorrow, it could start showing up at the pump in a matter of hours," said Patrick De Haan, vice president of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy, a fuel tracking platform.

According to Lipow, should the Strait of Hormuz be affected, the price of oil could rise to $US100 ($154.50) a barrel, which would raise petrol and diesel prices by about US75 cents a gallon (about 29c a litre) from recent levels.

Meanwhile, US trade policies combined with the Israel-Iran conflict "strongly suggest inflation will be moving faster and higher over the next 90 days," according to Brusuelas. Many mainstream economists argue that the low inflation of the spring represents a calm before the summer storm, when they expect prices to rise because of Trump's tariffs.

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The US military operation against Iran on Saturday involved more than 125 aircraft and a deception operation that saw bombers deployed over the Pacific as a "decoy", Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Dan Caine says.

Caine revealed new details on the mission, codenamed Operation Midnight Hammer, in a joint briefing with US Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth at the Pentagon on Sunday morning (just after 10pm AEST).

Caine said the unprecedented operation involved seven stealth B2 bombers, and its goal — to destroy nuclear sites in Fordo, Natanz and Isfahan — had been achieved.

READ MORE: US 'does not seek war' after surprise attack on Iran, Hegseth says

"Final battle damage will take some time, but initial battle damage assessments indicate that all three sites sustained extremely severe damage and destruction," Caine said.

Bombers dropped more than a dozen 30,000-pound (13.6-tonne) Massive Ordnance Penetrator bombs on two Iranian nuclear facilities, Fordow and Natanz, Caine said. Tomahawk missiles were launched at Isfahan.

All told, more than 125 aircraft were involved, including the B2s, refuelling tankers, reconnaissance planes and fighter jets.

The bombers struck Fordow, Natanz and Esfahan beginning at 6.40pm ET on Saturday (8.40am on Sunday AEST) and were out of Iranian airspace by 7pm ET, Caine said.

Flying from a base in Missouri, the mission was the longest B2 mission since just after the September 11 attacks.

Dozens of Tomahawk missiles were also launched at targets inside Iran as part of the operation, Caine said.

"At midnight Friday into Saturday morning, a large B-2 strike package comprised of bombers launched from the continental United States," Caine said.

READ MORE: Iran warns US has begun a 'dangerous war'

"As part of a plan to maintain tactical surprise, part of the package proceeded to the west and into the Pacific as a decoy — a deception effort known only to an extremely small number of planners and key leaders here in Washington and in Tampa.

"The main strike package comprised of seven B-2 Spirit bombers, each with two crew members, proceeded quietly to the east with minimal communications."

Iran nuclear ambitions 'obliterated'

Hegseth said that a choice to move a number of B-2 bombers from their base in Missouri earlier on Saturday was meant to be a decoy to throw off Iranians.

He added that the US used other methods of deception as well, deploying fighters to protect the B-2 bombers that dropped 14 bunker-buster bombs on Iran's most powerful nuclear site.

He said that all of these tactics helped the US drop the bombs without tipping off Iran's fighter jets or its air missile systems.

Iran's nuclear ambitions "have been obliterated", he said.

"The order we received from our commander in chief was focused, it was powerful, and it was clear," Hegseth said from the Pentagon podium.

READ MORE: 'Gone': Inside Iran's once-secretive Fordow nuclear site

"We devastated the Iranian nuclear program, but it's worth noting the operation did not target Iranian troops or the Iranian people. … Thanks to President Trump's bold and visionary leadership and his commitment to peace through strength, Iran's nuclear ambitions have been obliterated."

Operation Midnight Hammer timeline

Midnight ET (2pm on Sunday AEST): The operation began overnight Friday into Saturday morning, Caine said at a Pentagon news conference. As B-2 bombers launched from the US, some headed west as a decoy while the rest "proceeded quietly to the east with minimal communications throughout the 18-hour flight".

About 5pm ET (7am on Sunday AEST): Caine said a US submarine "launched more than two dozen Tomahawk land attack cruise missiles against key surface infrastructure targets" at the Isfahan nuclear site in Iran.

As the B-2s entered Iranian airspace, the US "employed several deception tactics, including decoys, as the fourth- and fifth-generation aircraft pushed out in front of the strike package at high altitude and high speed, sweeping in front of the package for enemy fighters and surface-to-air missile threats," Caine said.

He added that upon approach of the Natanz and Fordow facilities, the US employed "high-speed suppression weapons" with fighter aircraft to "ensure safe passage" of the B-2 bombers.

About 6.40pm ET (8.40am on Sunday AEST): The lead B-2 bomber launched two massive bunker-buster bombs at Fordow nuclear site, Caine said, and the "remaining bombers then hit their targets".

Those additional targets were struck, Caine said, "between 6.40pm ET and 7.05pm ET" (8.40am and 9.05am on Sunday AEST).

That places the timing of these attacks about 2.10am local time in Iran on Sunday.

In total, Caine said, 16 GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrators were dropped — two from the lead B-2 on Fordow, and 14 more from the remaining bombers against the two other sites.

Flight back to US: The US military then "began its return home", Caine said, noting that no shots were fired by Iran at the US on the way in or out.

– Additional reporting by CNN 

Five tunnels burrowing into a group of mountains, a large support structure and a wide security perimeter: that's all you can see of Iran's mysterious Fordow Fuel Enrichment Plant from recent satellite imagery.

The secretive, heavily guarded complex built close to the holy city of Qom has been fuelling speculation about its true nature and size since it was first made public in 2009.

A chunk of what we do know about it comes from a trove of Iranian documents stolen years ago by Israeli intelligence.

READ MORE: Trump confirms US has carried out a 'very successful' attack on Iran

Its main halls are an estimated 80 to 90 metres beneath the ground – safe from any aerial bomb known to be possessed by Israel, making destroying the facility from the air a near-impossible task.

As Iran's leadership reels from a series of devastating Israeli strikes, some analysts say that it is at Fordow that Iran may rush to convert enriched uranium stockpiles into a nuclear bomb.

Israel has targeted the facility in recent days but, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), so far it had either been unwilling – or unable – to damage it.

Now, US President Donald Trump has claimed "Fordow is gone" after the US carried out an attack on three nuclear sites in Iran.

Trump said the US completed a "very successful" attack on three nuclear sites in Iran, including Fordow, Natanz, and Esfahan.

"All planes are now outside of Iran air space. A full payload of BOMBS was dropped on the primary site, Fordow," the US president said in a message posted to Truth Social.

Tehran has long maintained the objectives of its nuclear program are peaceful, but Fordow has been at the heart of concern over Iran's ambitions.

"The size and configuration of this facility is inconsistent with a peaceful program," then US President Barack Obama said in 2009 as he, along with then French President Nicolas Sarkozy and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown revealed the existence of Fordow to the world.

Just days before the announcement, the Iranians, apparently knowing Western agencies had learned about the facility, told the IAEA of their desire to build a new fuel enrichment facility.

By that point construction at Fordow had been underway for years.

Tehran pushed back against the accusations, but condemnation even from ally Russia and concerns from China left it with little room to manoeuvre.

Construction started in the early 2000s

The US and its allies have not provided much detail on when the construction of Fordow started, but publicly available historical satellite imagery shows work at the site as far back as 2004, with photographs revealing two white square structures where the tunnel entrances are located today.

The IAEA says it has additional imagery showing construction as far back as 2002.

"Fordow is actually a project that started during what we call the crash nuclear weapons program of the early 2000s," David Albright, head of the Washington, DC-based Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS), a nonpartisan institution dedicated to stopping the spread of nuclear weapons, said.

"The idea was they (the Iranians) would make weapon-grade uranium in that plant, and they would obtain low-enriched uranium from the civil nuclear program in Iran."

In 2009, a large outside support structure was already fully built and excavation was ongoing for what experts believe to be a ventilation shaft, crucial to allow air circulation into the facility.

That shaft was later concealed and camouflaged, more recent imagery also shows.

Tehran explained to the IAEA in a letter dated October 2009 that the decision to build the facility underground was a result of "threats of military attacks against Iran," adding that Fordow would serve as a contingency for the nearby Natanz plant, which, it claimed, "was among the targets threatened with military attacks".

Iran told the IAEA the facility could house up to 3000 centrifuges.

Nuclear deal and Israeli accusations

The dangers posed by Fordow were largely tamed as a result of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) the so-called "Iran nuclear deal," that required Iran to remove two-thirds of the centrifuges inside the facility, along with all nuclear material, after the facility was banned from any such work.

That process was slowly reversed when US President Donald Trump pulled out of the deal in 2018.

Further details about the facility were made public by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in 2018, after his country's intelligence services seized more than 55,000 documents from what Israel said was Iran's "atomic archive."

Among the documents were detailed blueprints of Fordow and information on its objectives: to produce weapons-grade uranium, as part of Iran's nuclear weapons program, for at least one or two nuclear weapons per year.

"We never saw any, any inconsistency," Albright, who has combed through the documents, said of Iran's push to develop nuclear weapons.

"It's hundreds of thousands of pages. I mean you just can't make that amount of stuff up. I don't think anyone challenges it, and that's probably why there is an (IAEA) Board of Governors resolution against Iran."

At the time, then Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi called the revelations and Netanyahu's comments "childish" and "laughable".

Then US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the US had known about the material "for a while" and believed the documents were authentic.

Protected from even the largest bombs

Recent IAEA reports suggested Iran had ramped up production of enriched uranium to a level of 60 per cent at the Fordow facility, which, according to experts and the IAEA, now contains 2700 centrifuges.

"The significantly increased production and accumulation of highly enriched uranium by Iran, the only non-nuclear-weapon state to produce such nuclear material, is of serious concern," the IAEA said in a report on May 31.

"One of the things that elevated the tension, was they have no reason to do that, other than to be able to then go the next step and turn it into weapon-grade uranium," Albright said.

"It was interpreted as they're preparing themselves to be able to do it if they decide to. And if you're 60 per cent, you can turn it into weapon-grade uranium very quickly," he added.

According to the ISIS think tank, "Iran can convert its current stock of 60 per cent enriched uranium into 233 kg of weapon-grade uranium in three weeks at the Fordow Fuel Enrichment Plant," enough for nine nuclear weapons.

That is why Fordow is a major focus of Israel's attempts to degrade and destroy Iran's nuclear program.

But is it even feasible?

The US is the only country that possesses the kind of bomb required to strike Iran's Fordow nuclear site, Israel's ambassador to the US, Yechiel Leiter, said in an interview with Merit TV on Monday.

"For Fordow to be taken out by a bomb from the sky, the only country in the world that has that bomb is the United States. And that's a decision the United States has to take, whether or not it chooses to actually pursue that course," Leiter said.

But, he added, that wasn't the only option: "There are other ways of dealing with Fordow."

Destroying Fordow from the air would be almost impossible for Israel, according to a March report from the UK-based Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) think tank and would require significant firepower and assistance from the United States.

It would not even be reachable by the US' GBU-57 massive ordnance penetrator bombs, which only reach about 60 meters deep, according to the RUSI report.

And the GBU-57 can only be delivered by US Air Force B-2 stealth bombers, something Israel doesn't have – even if the US would give it the bombs.

"Even the GBU-57/B would likely require multiple impacts at the same aiming point to have a good chance of penetrating the facility," said the report.

Other analysts agree, saying, if the US were to try to hit Fordow, it probably couldn't be done with one bomb.

"I would bank on repeated strikes against Fordow," CNN military analyst Cedric Leighton, a former US Air Force colonel, said.

Albright says there could be other ways to disable Fordow.

"Israel could probably destroy the tunnel entrances pretty far back, and certainly destroy the ventilation system," he said.

"If you destroyed (the tunnels) and the electric electrical supply, it would be months before they could really operate."

Despite its crucial role in Iran's nuclear program, Albright believes Fordow is just another piece of the puzzle.

"If you destroy it, it's not the end of the line, because you then go to the next threat, which is, how many centrifuges has Iran made that they didn't deploy at Fordow and Natanz? And where are they?" he said.

"I think people over-emphasise the need to destroy it by bringing down its ceilings, which admittedly, probably only the US can do."

President Donald Trump confirmed the US carried out an attack on Iran in a live address to the nation and said the strikes targeting Fordow, Isfahan and Natanz were a "spectacular military success".

Trump said Iran's nuclear enrichment facilities had been "completely obliterated" shortly after first announcing the US attack on his platform Truth Social.

"Our objective was the destruction of Iran's nuclear enrichment capability and a stop to the world's number one state-sponsor of terror," Trump said in a message from the White House.

READ MORE: Trump confirms US has carried out a 'very successful' attack on Iran

"I can report to the world the strikes were a spectacular military success. Iran's key nuclear enrichment facilities have been completely and totally obliterated.

"Iran, the bully of the Middle East, must now make peace."

Trump said he "hopes" further military action will not be needed, as he congratulated the US military on its operation.

"Hopefully, we'll no longer need their services in this capacity. I hope that's so," he said.

"There will be peace or tragedy for Iran, far greater than we have witnessed over the last eight days.

"Remember, there are many targets left."

He added: "Tonight's was the most difficult of them all, by far, and perhaps the most lethal. But if peace does not come quickly, we'll go after those other targets with precision, speed and skill."

The president went on to congratulate Israel Prime Minister Benjamin 'Bibi' Netanyahu for this role in carrying out the US strikes.

He said he worked "like a team perhaps no team has ever worked before" to launch an assault on Iran's nuclear sites Fordow, Natanz, and Esfahan.

READ MORE: It was colder than Antarctica for Aussies in one town this morning

READ MORE: 'Gone': Inside Iran's once-secretive nuclear site Fordow

Trump then spoke directly to God as he neared the end of his speech.

"I want to just thank everyone and in particular God," he said.

"I want to just say we love you God, and we love our great military, protect them."

Trump said the US Secretary of Defence would hold another press conference at the Pentagon at 8am local time (10pm AEST).

He closed his short address with the statement: "God bless the Middle East, God bless Israel and God bless America, thank you very much."

Iranian state media acknowledged its Fordow nuclear facility was attacked during the strike carried out by the US military today.

Iran's state-run IRNA news agency early on Sunday quoted a statement from Iran's Qom province after US President Donald Trump confirmed the strikes in a post to social media.

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A 62-year-old man who has died six days after he was allegedly assaulted at a Melbourne shopping strip has been identified as Dominic O'Brien.

O'Brien was a veteran photographer who worked for several news outlets, including Nine's The Age.

He suffered critical injuries after an alleged encounter with a released immigration detainee in an outdoor shopping area in Footscray just before 10am last Sunday.

READ MORE: Israel hits Iranian nuclear facility, warns to prepare for 'lengthy' war

O'Brien was rushed to hospital following the alleged incident but died earlier today.

Police arrested a 43-year-old man with no fixed address hours after the alleged altercation.

At the time, the man was charged with intentionally causing serious injury, but now investigators will decide whether to upgrade his charges after O'Brien's postmortem.

Police allege the man is a former immigration detainee who was wearing an ankle monitoring bracelet.

The accused was released from indefinite detention last year following a High Court ruling.

He's now back behind bars until his case returns to court in October.

A British-flagged luxury superyacht that sank off Sicily last year, killing UK tech magnate Mike Lynch and six others, was lifted fully out of the water on Saturday afternoon as salvage recovery crews completed the operation to bring it ashore for further investigation, the local coast guard said.

The white top and blue hull of the 56-metre (184-foot) Bayesian was covered with algae and mud, was visible clear of the sea in a holding area of a yellow floating crane barge, a witness said.

The local coast guard said the lifting operation was concluded early afternoon (early Sunday morning AEST) and will be followed by some technical tests on the hull.

READ MORE: Israel and Iran launch new strikes even as diplomatic effort gets underway

On Sunday, the vessel will be transported to the Sicilian port of Termini Imerese, where it will be made available for investigators to help determine the cause of the sinking.

The Bayesian sank August 19 off Porticello near Palermo during a violent storm as Lynch was treating friends to a cruise to celebrate his acquittal two months earlier in the US on fraud charges.

Lynch, his daughter and five others died. Fifteen people survived, including the captain and all crew members except the chef.

Italian authorities are conducting a full criminal investigation.

TMC Maritime, which is conducting the recovery operation, said the vessel has been slowly raised from the seabed, 50 metres down, over the past three days to allow the steel lifting straps, slings and harnesses to be secured under the keel.

Eight steel lifting straps are being used to support the hull upright and to form part of a steel wire lifting system that began raising the vessel out of the water on Saturday. As it is lifted up, sea water is pumped out of the hull.

TMC Maritime said the vessel will be held upright, out of the water, for checks and preparations for its final journey.

The floating crane platform will then move the Bayesian to Termini Imerese, where a special steel cradle is waiting for it.

What became visible for the first time on Friday on the surface of the water was the top of the passenger area of the Bayesian where passengers would sit, known as the accommodation area, said a spokesman for TMC Maritime, David Wilson.

When it resurfaced, the Bayesian was missing its 72-metre mast, which was cut down and left on the seabed for future removal.

The mast had to be detached to allow the hull to be brought to a nearly upright position that would allow the craft to be surfaced, TMC Maritime said earlier this week.

British investigators said in an interim report issued last month that the yacht was knocked over by "extreme wind" and couldn't recover.

The report said the Bayesian had chosen the site where it sank as shelter from forecast thunderstorms.

Wind speeds exceeded 70 knots (130km/h mph) at the time of the sinking and "violently" knocked the vessel over to a 90-degree angle in under 15 seconds.

Lynch, who sold Autonomy, a software maker he founded in 1996, to Hewlett-Packard for $US11 billion in 2011, had been acquitted on fraud charges in June 2024 by a federal court jury in San Francisco.

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