After two trials spanning more than a year - the first trial ended in April last year with the jury unable to reach a majority verdict - the property developer was likely to spend the rest of his life in jail.

It was shortly after 11am on Monday and the jury had been deliberating for 5½ days.

Outside court, McGurk's widow Kimberley, her face taut with controlled grief, said, "Today is a great day for justice and the jury system in NSW.

"The damage to my family will never be repaired but the result today will allow my family to move forward," she said.

McGurk was shot dead on September 3, 2009, as he and his nine-year-old son returned to their Cremorne home shortly before 6.30pm with takeaway chicken and chips.

As McGurk alighted from his Mercedes, he was shot in the head.

“Mummy, mummy, dad’s been hurt. There was a pop and there’s blood," his terrified son screamed as he ran to the house.

The jury was persuaded that Medich, who was enraged and embarrassed over a string of law suits in which he and McGurk were embroiled, was responsible for ordering the contract killing.

Before he was taken to the cells beneath the building, Medich performed a ritual familiar in this court. He removed the accoutrements of his life as a free man - wallet, keys, iPhone - and handed them to his barrister Winston Terracini, SC.

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Mr Terracini, removing his robes after Medich was escorted to the bowels of the building, told his colleagues he would descend to the cells shortly to visit his client.

There was silence in the court. Justice Bellew had thanked the jury for putting their lives effectively “on hold” for three months before they filed out of the courtroom.

One of the most anticipated verdicts in Sydney had been delivered and it had caused barely a sound.