Not an admission of liability: Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and Immigration Minister Peter Dutton. Credit:Andrew Meares They also made a claim of false imprisonment, following a PNG Supreme Court ruling last year that declared their ongoing detention breached the PNG constitution. The Turnbull government agreed on a provisional settlement in June – of $70 million, plus an estimated $20 million in costs – which was formally approved by Justice Macaulay on Wednesday. The compensation will not be distributed evenly but according to a points system based on how long the person was detained on Manus and what injuries they sustained. Justice Macaulay acknowledged the formula would be "regrettable" to some detainees who spent less time in detention, but said it was equitable overall.

The $70 million will be paid to up to 1923 asylum seekers detained on Manus between 2012 and 2014. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen In June, Immigration Minister Peter Dutton said the decision to settle was not an admission of liability or wrongdoing, but was preferable to a lengthy and expensive trial. "An anticipated six-month legal battle for this case would have cost tens of millions of dollars in legal fees alone, with an unknown outcome," Mr Dutton said at the time. Justice Cameron Macaulay said the agreed sum of $70 million was fair and reasonable. Credit:Supreme Court of Victoria "In such circumstances a settlement was considered a prudent outcome for Australian taxpayers. The Commonwealth strongly refutes and denies the claims made in these proceedings."

Speaking on Wednesday after the payout was confirmed, Slater and Gordon practice group leader Rory Walsh said he was "very pleased" with the court's decision and the speed of the outcome. Slater and Gordon lawyers Rory Walsh, Andrew Baker and Andrew Paull. Credit:AAP He said 70 per cent of the original 1923 claimants had signed on to the settlement – "very high for a class action" – and he expected that number to grow before registrations close on October 13. Less than 10 per cent of the group raised objections to the settlement. "Of course there's no amount of compensation that would properly compensate these people for what has happened to them," Mr Walsh told Fairfax Media. Illustration: Ron Tandberg.

"We were acutely aware that these people have been treated terribly and in a very high-handed way," he said. "There was always going to be some people who don't agree with the settlement, that's the nature of class action". Refugees who spoke to Fairfax Media from PNG on Wednesday were sceptical about the promised payout. Behrouz Boochani, an Iranian refugee and journalist at the Manus RPC, queried how the compensation could be provided, because: "we don't have the right to have bank accounts in this country". "The refugees are not happy with this money because it cannot cover more than four years' suffering." he said. "They accepted this settlement because they thought [they] don't have any choice." Ben Moghimi, an Iranian refugee who is currently among a group of about 100 men transferred to a hotel in Port Moresby, said the payout could not compensate for his pain or the deaths of his friends.

"No amount of money could return back how I suffered in past years by [the] Australian government in here, and I am still suffering," he told Fairfax Media. "Many of [the] guys here aren't happy about this but everyone is sick mentally so they had no choice so they had to accept it. I can see [from] the faces here that people are not happy with this." Mr Walsh said Slater and Gordon was investigating how money could be transferred to the men on Manus, or held in their name, and it was confident of doing so. Loading Justice Macaulay said he was satisfied the lawyers would take steps to ameliorate that issue.

- with AAP