Alan Hall will finally walk away a free man today after his conviction for murder, a crime maintains he never committed, was quashed by the highest court in New Zealand. 

Chief justice Helen Winkelmann has delivered the history-making decision this afternoon. 

Justice Winkelmann said the court was satisfied a substantial miscarriage of justice had occurred in Hall's case. 

Hall, imprisoned for 19 years for the murder, will consider seeking compensation for his ordeal after the Supreme Court quashed his convictions today. 

He was 23 when he was accused of murdering Arthur Easton during a violent home invasion in October 1985. 

But in the Supreme Court this morning the Crown acknowledged there had been a miscarriage of justice after key evidence presented to the jury at Hall's 1986 trial was "materially altered". 

In the three decades Hall has spent trying to clear his name, with evidence known about by the Crown since 1993, the family lost their mother and their home fighting for justice. 

Shirley Hall died in 2012, but not before selling the family home in Papakura to help pay for her son to overturn the conviction. 

Now, brother Geoff Hall says it is time to reclaim what was taken from them. 

Alan Hall, his mother Shirley and brother Geoff at Shirley's home in August 2011. Shirley did not live to see Alan's murder conviction quashed. Photo / Greg Bowker 

He told Open Justice the family would be sitting down with their legal team to form an application for compensation to the Minister of Justice.

He was unsure of the process but said one thing was certain: "I'm going to make it a priority, one way or another that the replacement of our family home happens".

However, he said ultimately it would be his brother's decision.

"It's not for anybody else at the end of the day, what they decide is Alan's decision," he said.

Private investigator Tim McKinnel, who has worked closely with the family to get Hall's conviction quashed, said last week the question of compensation would be on the table.

"One step at a time, but Alan and his family know that we will do whatever they want us to do... but we're not getting ahead of ourselves," McKinnel said.

Mother Shirley Hall, who passed away in 2012, sold the family home to fund legal action to clear her son's name. Photo / Supplied

It follows several high-profile cases of quashed convictions followed by Government payouts. 

Teina Pora received $3.5 million for the 21 years he spent in prison for twice being wrongfully convicted of the rape and murder of Susan Burdett in 1992. 

His conviction was quashed by the Privy Council in 2015 and the Government agreed to pay just over $2.5 million compensation after considering reports from retired High Court Judge Rodney Hansen QC. 

Later, former Justice Minister Andrew Little added an inflation adjustment of $988,000 and $45,000 in legal costs for the judicial review of an earlier decision not to provide the inflation adjustment. 

"Teina Pora was the victim of one of New Zealand's worst miscarriages of justice," Little said at the time. 

"He was robbed of more than two decades of his life, languishing in prison for crimes he did not commit. These were years when Mr Pora could have been working to build his future and his family." 

Teina Pora's convictions for the rape and murder of Susan Burdett were quashed by the Privy Council in 2015 and was given $3.5 million compensation. Photo / Michael Craig

Two other cases that led to payouts related to wrongful convictions include David Bain and Arthur Allan Thomas. 

In Thomas' case he was twice convicted for the infamous 1970 murders of Harvey and Jeanette Crewe, once in 1971 and again in 1973. 

In December 1979 Thomas received a royal pardon and was released after nine years in prison. 

He received almost $1 million in compensation after it was determined by a Royal Commission of Inquiry that evidence against him had been planted by detectives. 

David Bain was convicted of murdering his parents and three siblings in June 1994, serving 13 years in prison before the Privy Council quashed his convictions and he was acquitted in a retrial in 2009. 

Bain was denied compensation for his time behind bars but the Government agreed to make an ex-gratia paymen, in the interests of bringing closure to the long-running claim. 

A full and final payment of $925,000 was accepted by Bain's legal team. 

In 2016, then Justice Minister Amy Adams stressed the payment was not compensation, and had been offered solely to avoid further litigation and costs to the Crown.