The Court of Appeal has overturned what it called the "inconsistent" decision of a jury last year and acquitted Charlie Star of raping a 17-year-old girl at a birthday party in Kergunyah.
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Star was set to be immediately released from jail on Wednesday, after serving more than a year of what had been a four-year jail sentence.
He and friend Mitchell Bowran, both 20 years old at the time, were each charged with multiple counts of rape over the incident on the night of September 2, 2017.
They told police at the time, and the County Court last year, that the sexual encounter had been consensual.
The County Court jury had found Bowran not guilty of four counts of rape and was undecided on the fifth, but decided Star was guilty of one count of rape, not guilty of a second and undecided on the third.
The prosecution decided not to pursue a retrial on the undecided charges.
Court of Appeal judges Chris Maxwell, Karin Emerton and Mark Weinberg heard Star's appeal on Friday and came back with a verdict on Wednesday, saying it was important to resolve the case quickly.
They granted leave to appeal, allowed the appeal, and ordered that Star's conviction for rape be set aside and a judgment and verdict of acquittal entered instead.
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The decision was unanimous, with the three judges agreeing the jury handed down an inconsistent verdict.
Defence barrister Dermot Dann QC had argued that the prosecutor and judge had misrepresented Star's case to the County Court jury last year, saying the judge left out key points when summing up the case at the end of the trial.
The Court of Appeal's full reasons for the decision will be handed down at a later date.
