As many Australians were heading for bed on Thursday night news broke that doctors were worried about Queen Elizabeth II's health.
Within hours, the world was told the Commonwealth's longest-reigning monarch was dead.
But there was a burst of activity in between. This is how the night unfolded.
The Queen is put under medical supervision
10pm AEST/1pm BST
Buckingham Palace says the Queen has been placed under medical supervision at Balmoral Castle in Scotland.
Her personal doctors say they are "concerned for her health" but she remains "comfortable".
Prince Charles and his wife Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall and Princess Anne, the Princess Royal are at Balmoral with the Queen.
Just two days earlier she had been photographed after appointing new British Prime Minister Liz Truss.
The Queen's family arrives at Balmoral
2am AEST/5pm BST
Prince William, Prince Andrew, Prince Edward and his wife Sophie Wessex arrive at Balmoral Castle.
Prince Harry arrives after her death.
Catherine, the Duchess of Cambridge, and Prince Harry's wife Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, will not be travelling to Balmoral, it is announced.
The Queen dies
3:30am AEST/6:30pm BST:
Buckingham Palace announces the death of Queen Elizabeth II. She was 96.
"The Queen died peacefully at Balmoral this afternoon," the statement reads.
"The King and The Queen Consort will remain at Balmoral this evening and will return to London tomorrow."
There is a new king. Queen Elizabeth's son Charles becomes King Charles III.
King Charles III releases a statement
4am AEST/7pm BST:
King Charles III releases a statement about his mother's death.
"We mourn profoundly the passing of a cherished Sovereign and a much-loved Mother," it says.
"During this period of mourning and change, my family and I will be comforted and sustained by our knowledge of the respect and deep affection in which The Queen was so widely held."
The King is yet to appear in public.
The world reacts
From 5am AEST/8pm BST:
Crowds gather outside Buckingham Palace in London as words of condolence roll in from world leaders.
UK Prime Minister Liz Truss is the first. She calls on Britons to rally around the new King.
"With the King's family, we mourn the loss of his mother and as we mourn, we must come together as a people to support him," she says.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese remembers the Queen's fondness for Australia.
"As monarch for more than half the life of our federation, the relationship between Australia and Britain matured and evolved throughout Her Majesty's reign," he says.
US President Joe Biden, who has been informed of the Queen's death during a meeting in the Oval Office, pays tribute to the monarch and her "unmatched dignity".
"[She] was a stateswoman of unmatched dignity and constancy who deepened the bedrock alliance between the United Kingdom and the United States," he says.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres says he is saddened by the Queen's death.
"She was a reassuring presence throughout decades of sweeping change, including the decolonisation of Africa and Asia and the evolution of the Commonwealth," he says.
