He smiled and nodded to members of the public gallery at the Supreme Court on Wednesday as he was led away to begin serving his jail term with no chance of parole for a decade.

In delivering her sentence, Justice Elizabeth Hollingworth said prosecutors had satisfied the four key elements of the one-punch law that was introduced in 2014: that Esmaili's punch was deliberate, to the head, that the victim wasn’t expecting it, and that he probably knew the surgeon wouldn't have been expecting a punch.

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Justice Hollingworth imposed a total sentence of 10 years and six months on Esmaili and said that he had shown very little remorse for his act after giving evidence at the trial that he had thrown the punch in self-defence.

However, the jury did not accept his argument, finding him guilty of manslaughter last year. After withdrawing applications to use the 10-year mandatory minimum in other one-punch cases, prosecutors pushed for it to be imposed for the first time on Esmaili.

Mr Pritzwald-Stegmann's wife, Christine Baumberg, said that Esmaili’s sentence reflected his total lack of remorse for what he had done.

At a previous court hearing, the devastated widow said that she didn't know how to discuss "the bad man, Joseph Esmaili" with her daughters.

"Throughout the trial he has tried to blame everyone but himself for Patrick’s death," she said in a statement outside court on Wednesday.

She said her husband was a dedicated heart and lung surgeon who spent his days dealing with the harmful effects of smoking.

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"First and foremost he was a loving husband and father," she said. "He should have been safe at work."

She called on the Victorian government and the state’s hospitals to do more to properly enforce smoking bans outside health facilities.

"I want to thank the police and prosecution team for their hard work. I also thank the community for their support," she said.

Matt Cronin, the father of Patrick Cronin, who was killed in a one-punch attack in 2016, said it was a bittersweet day for advocates for stronger laws for such assaults.

Andrew William Lee, 34, was sentenced in 2017 to eight years in prison over Patrick’s death, with a minimum of five years before he is eligible for parole.

In a sad coincidence, Thursday marks the three-year anniversary of Patrick’s life support being switched off.

“I’m really happy that the 10-year-minimum has been used,” Mr Cronin said.

“But I’m also really saddened that they weren’t able to be used in Pat’s case and other cases.”

Mr Cronin said the state government needed to simplify the laws so the 10-year minimum could be applied more often.

“It’s still a hollow victory in many ways, nothing can bring our loved ones back,” he said.

Caterina Politi, the mother of one-punch victim David Cassai, held back tears as she spoke outside court about what the outcome meant to her.

"It was hard for me to be here today but I needed to be here," she said.

"I'm so proud of what we've achieved, that the government listened and they put this law into place. There was lots of technicalities and they got the result."