ABOVE: Dick Smith speaks to 3AW's Neil Mitchell about his role in freeing Amanda Lindhout, a Canadian freelance reporter, and Nigel Brennan, a freelance Australian photojournalist.

Report by Daniel Flitton, The Age.com.au: No smiling, no laughing. Week after week - through two summers and a winter - Nigel Brennan was locked in a room with little light or food. His captors, Somali bandits intent on squeezing a rich prize for his release, denied him humour as well as freedom.

"Not that there was much to laugh about," he said yesterday, finally free 462 days after he and Canadian journalist colleague Amanda Lindhout were taken hostage near a refugee camp on the outskirts of Mogadishu.

"My friend Amanda had a pretty rough time," Brennan said yesterday from a hotel in Mogadishu. "She was severely beaten and we were both tortured both mentally and physically. Being pistol-whipped is sort of torture, being completely stripped of everything and then locked in a room … is a form of torture, really."

Both were reported to have boarded a small private plane at Mogadishu airport last night in an escape from their 15-month ordeal. They had no warning of their release.

Brennan and Lindhout were taken hostage on August 23 last year while in Somalia as freelance reporters. They had only been in the country four days, intending to report on the plight of internally displaced refugees. Somalia is a land of anarchy. The government crumbled almost two decades ago, and in the void, pirates and warlords have turned the gun into law. The Australian Government warns against any travel to the strife-torn nation.

Held separately, neither had much idea about the health of the other or the fate of negotiations on a reputedly $US1 million ($A1.09 million) ransom for their release.

"Basically, my day was sitting in a corner, on the floor, 24 hours a day for the last 15 months," Lindhout told Canadian television.

But little did Brennan or Lindhout know that in Australia, a special Government taskforce was devoting endless hours to their case.

This included a deployment of Australian Federal Police and Defence personnel to Nairobi, Kenya, and a Royal Australian Air Force transport plane in the Middle East on constant standby to sweep in and collect the freed hostages.

Meeting in Canberra's Foreign Affairs building at 10 o'clock each Monday morning for a review of the latest developments - taking in reports from the AFP on negotiations and the latest intelligence reports - the taskforce also included diplomats and representatives from the Prime Minister's Department.

Ideas were thrashed out across the table. A military option for a snatch-and-grab operation was quickly ruled out. "Going in Black Hawk Down-style was never an option," one source said. But it is believed a team of Australian special forces soldiers were on alert to provide a secure transition of the hostages if needed.

The Australian Government has a policy of not paying hostage ransom but it is believed a substantial "consular loan" to the family was proposed.

Foreign Affairs consular operations branch director James Choi - described as an impressive and accomplished diplomat - had the job of dealing with the Brennan family.

Australia worked closely with Canada, which also sent national police to Nairobi. The cost of this enormous Government effort has run into the millions - the high price of the pair's foolish misadventure.

But sources have told The Age that freedom for Brennan and Lindhout was won after the families engaged a private security company - believed to be AKE Group - in an expensive gamble to bring their loved ones home.

"This has been an unbelievably harrowing and wearing ordeal and nothing could have prepared us as a family for what we have gone through since Nigel's capture," Brennan's sister, Kellie, said yesterday in Sydney.

But the family declined to discuss the details of the case, including claims that a hefty ransom was paid. "I want to make it really clear … they are still in Somalia and they are not out of danger yet," Kellie Brennan said.

The costs of employing the security company are believed to run into thousands of dollars a day. The Brennan family had run barbecues to raise funds.

Prominent Australian business people - including Dick Smith - were approached to help raise extra money.

Mr Smith last night confirmed he had been approached, but declined to go into details.

"To the individuals who have worked so closely with the two families in this case, you know who you are and we could not have gotten this far without you," Kellie Brennan said.

Soon after Brennan and Lindhout were captured, Foreign Minister Stephen Smith asked all media - including The Age - to refrain from reporting the case for fear it might put efforts to release the pair in jeopardy.

Yet the Government was still refusing yesterday to comment on their release.

But The Age has learnt of the extraordinary efforts to free the pair. Hopes had risen time and again, with the captors seemingly close to releasing their prisoners.

Phones rang for AFP agents at all hours with demands, and the family was told that Brennan was sick and in need of medical attention, but there was no way of knowing if this was accurate or an effort to increase pressure.

"They seemed to think that if they beat me enough," Lindhout said, "then when I was able to speak to my mother - they would put me on the line with her every couple of months - that I would be able to say the right thing to convince her to pay the ransom."

How the drama unfolded

August 24, 2008

Foreign Affairs officials seek to confirm reports that Australian photojournalist Nigel Brennan and Canadian journalist Amanda Lindhout have been abducted by unidentified armed rebels near Mogadishu.

September 7, 2008

The kidnappers are reportedly demanding a $US1 million ($A1.09 million) ransom to free the journalists.

September 17, 2008

Al-Jazeera television broadcasts footage of Brennan and Lindhout, along with armed men who call themselves the Mujahideen of Somalia.

May 25, 2009

In a five-minute phone call with an AFP journalist in Mogadishu, Brennan and Lindhout say they are in poor health and request help from their governments.

May 26

Foreign Minister Stephen Smith says public discussion and media coverage of the situation could endanger Brennan's life.

July 23

Brennan's mother makes an unexpected approach to Mr Rudd while he is on a visit to Bundaberg, asking for his help.

November 26

Brennan and Lindhout are freed after 462 days in captivity. Brennan's family confirms his release. Brennan says he and Lindhout "were both tortured, both mentally and physically".

With AGENCIES