When Saffrine Duggan took a snap of her family before school drop-off, she did not know it would become the last relic of her husband's freedom.
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Tuesday marks three years in Australian prisons for ex-fighter pilot Daniel Duggan, who has been fighting extradition to the US after he was accused of unlawfully training Chinese military personnel.
In the photo, taken hours before his arrest in a regional town's supermarket car park, the father of six stands with his kids Hazel, Ginger and Jack, a cake in hand, as they prepare to go to the school fete.
"They all said goodbye expecting to see their dad at home in the afternoon," Ms Duggan told AAP.
"On the day that it happened, I thought it was a mistake.
"Three years down the track, it's been a gruelling nightmare ... we have had our whole world turned upside down."
Charges and an indictment were first filed against the Australian citizen in a sealed court case during US President Donald Trump's first term.
Australian police acted on a warrant in October 2022, before a drawn-out battle over the validity of his extradition.
Then-Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus ticked off the former US marine's extradition in December - a decision now challenged in the Federal Court.
The court battle has placed "astronomical" costs upon the Duggan family, with legal bills totalling about half a million dollars.
Before Thursday's one-day hearing in Canberra, they were forced to quickly scrape together $25,000 so they could pay his lawyer.
Duggan has also been refused Legal Aid, while an injunction placed on his family's half-built house means they can neither sell it nor live in it.
"We just feel like there's been a real sense of abandonment," Ms Duggan said.
She called out Attorney-General Michelle Rowland, who could free her husband at any time.
He's instead "just trying to survive" locked up in a maximum security prison in central NSW, about 100km from the family home, Ms Duggan said.
The family's legal team on Thursday argued there had been mistakes in the attorney-general's decision to green-light his extradition.
Duggan was specifically alleged to have breached US arms-trafficking laws by providing military training to Chinese pilots in South Africa between 2010 and 2012.
However, the offence he has been accused of was not an offence in Australia at that time, meaning there is an absence of dual criminality, which must be considered in extradition decisions, his lawyers said.
It is unclear when the Federal Court will hand down its decision but Duggan's kids hope for his release every day.
"We still deal with the nightly tears," Ms Duggan said.
"''How long 'til it's over? Are we almost there? How did we go?' There's this feeling of hope they have that their dad will be home tomorrow."
Ms Rowland's office said it would be inappropriate to comment on Duggan's matter as it was before the court.
Australian Associated Press
