After a decade of legal battles, with emotions oscillating between hope and despair, doomed Bali Nine ringleaders Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran have been to death.

The pair spent 10 years on death row at Bali's Kerobokan prison, and were executed by firing squad in the early hours of Wednesday morning.

As the so-called masterminds of the Bali Nine drug smuggling syndicate, the duo has never ventured far from the media's glare, with their protracted legal processes, rehabilitation and haunting countdown to death chronicled.

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Julie Bishop says executing Bali Nine pair will be 'grave injustice'. Photo: 7News

The poster boys of the infamous 2005 drug bust and its devastating repercussions, what do we really know about Sukumaran and Chan?

Here we take a look at their backgrounds and how they came to be two of Australia's most notorious drug mules.

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Australian death-row prisoners Myuran Sukumaran, right and Andrew Chan, left, stand in front of their cell. Source: AAP

Myuran Sukumaran

Sukumaran, 34, was born in London in 1981 and moved with his Sri Lankan family to Australia when he was a child.

He dropped out of university and became involved in the Sydney drugs and party scene.

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Myuran Sukumaran covers his face shortly after his arrest in 2005. Photo: AAP

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