Former NRL star Jarryd Hayne has enjoyed his first night of freedom after he was granted bail on his birthday, ending a nine-month stint in prison.
Grinning, Hayne hugged a friend as he left Cooma Correctional Centre on Tuesday - his 34th birthday.
Hours earlier a district court had granted him bail, a day after a NSW appeal court overturned his sexual assault convictions and ordered a third trial.
But that trial could be a year away, with the matter to return to court on Friday to decide on a date.
The earliest the trial - expected to go for two to three weeks - may be able to proceed is October, District Court judge Christopher O'Brien said.
"After that, we're looking at 2023," he said.
Hayne appeared in the court via audio visual link on Tuesday morning, clad in prison greens, as Judge O'Brien imposed conditions on his release.
He must pay a $20,000 bail surety, surrender his passport, and report to police three times a week.
He also must not contact or intimidate the alleged victim or any witnesses, and cannot enter the Newcastle local government area.
Hayne was in May sentenced to at least three years and eight months behind bars after he was found guilty of two charges of sexual intercourse without consent.
The ex-Parramatta player faced a retrial after his first ended with a hung jury.
The Crown contended in both trials he forcibly performed oral and digital sexual intercourse on a woman in her NSW Hunter bedroom on the night of the 2018 NRL grand final.
Hayne has always maintained the encounter was consensual.
Hayne's barrister Tim Game SC successfully argued for his convictions to be overturned on two appeal grounds - that there was an error in the legal directions given to the jury, and an error in a pre-trial ruling on evidence.
Another two appeal grounds - including that the jury's verdict was unreasonable - were dismissed.
