The underworld figure was picked up outside the Court of Appeal on Friday afternoon in a Mercedes-Benz and driven to his new home in Melbourne’s northeast.

Mokbel, 59, who was granted bail ahead of his Lawyer X appeal, has not tasted freedom since he was arrested in Greece in 2007.

A far cry from his life within the walls of Barwon Prison, Mokbel will now be residing inside his sister Gawy Saad’s four-bedroom townhouse in Viewbank, a park-lined area of Melbourne’s northeast.

Ms Saad and her husband put forward $500,000 in surety to secure Mokbel’s bail, however three appeal court judges decided it should be double that, at $1 million.

Mokbel will be living under heavy restrictions while on release, with 30 bail conditions.

Asked in court whether he would abide by the conditions, Mokbel said “I swear, yes Your Honour.”

He must report to police daily and cannot leave home between the hours of 8pm and 6am.

Mokbel must wear a GPS monitoring device for 12 months, at his own expense, and within 12 hours of his bail being granted must obtain a non-smartphone mobile which has to be approved by police with the phone number, PIN code or password provided to them.

Use of encrypted devices or software to communicate, including Signal, Telegram, Whatsapp and Snapchat is also banned for Mokbel and he cannot communicate with anyone overseas.

He must not leave metropolitan Melbourne or come within two kilometres of any port or airport.

The restrictions come after Mokbel skipped bail and fled to Greece in 2006 while on trial for a cocaine trafficking offence.

He was sentenced to 12 years’ jail in absentia but has since been acquitted on appeal.

His final drug trafficking convictions will be the subject of his final appeal, later this year.

The judges on Friday said he has a “strong case” to overturn those convictions, given the concealment of his former lawyer Nicola Gobbo as a police informer.