Australian officials are ready to begin work on a free-trade deal with the UK, and have recently flown in to begin hammering out the details of a landmark pact, the country’s top official in Britain has revealed.

A senior negotiator from Canberra has already arrived in Britain, while top civil servants from Australia have briefed their counterparts in London on the ins and outs of trade deals, High Commissioner Alexander Downer told The Sunday Telegraph.

Theresa May met the Australian prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull, last month, when they agreed to kickstart trade talks imminently, while Australia’s trade minister also met his British counterpart Liam Fox.