Nationals MP Barnaby has welcomed news that Julian Assange is on a plane headed for Australia, but cautioned the "finish line" was not yet reached.
Mr Assange was filmed leaving the UK by plane shortly after court documents showed he would plead guilty to violating US espionage laws as part of a deal to escape jail time.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese "welcomed" that news in Question Time on Tuesday and said he planned to speak further once any legal process was complete.
Mr Joyce, a former deputy prime minister, was part of a group of politicians across the political spectrum who had long campaigned for Mr Assange's release and visited the US to lobby legislators there on the matter.
"There were so many people who were part of this process, and what it showed was people from both sides of politics, for different reasons, arrived at the same place," Mr Joyce said on Tuesday morning.
Mr Assange will land on the Pacific island of Saipan, where the US has jurisdiction, to formally enter his plea. He is expected to be sentenced to 62 months of time already served, having been imprisoned in the UK's Belmarsh prison, and will then be able to return home.
But an Australian government spokesperson said it was "not appropriate to provide further comment" until the proceedings were concluded.
"Prime Minister Albanese has been clear. Mr Assange's case has dragged on for too long and there is nothing to be gained by his continued incarceration."
In Question Time, Mr Albanese said Mr Assange had been accompanied when he left the UK by Stephen Smith, Australia's high commissioner to the UK.
He described the legal proceedings as "crucial and delicate".
Supporters of Mr Assange across the political spectrum, including Mr Joyce, independent MP Andrew Wilkie and the Greens, have warned against commenting prematurely in any way that might jeopardise the court proceeding.
"It's been a long process. Nobody wants to put a fly in the ointment," Mr Joyce said.
"In a 1,500-metre race, you don't stop and start waving at the crowd with two and a half laps [to go]."
But he told the ABC he was "pleased" that the outcome would set "an incredibly strong precedent" that Australians should not be "extraterritoriality" charged by other countries for alleged crimes not committed on their soil.
"I don't agree with what he did, and I won't, but it wasn't illegal," Mr Joyce said.
"[Extraterritoriality] is a principle, and if you let it lapse for one then it lapses for all."
Greens senator David Shoebridge said he was "looking forward to welcoming Julian back home where he belongs with his family and his friends."
"Let's be clear, Julian Assange should never have been charged with espionage in the first place or had to make this deal. [He] has spent years in jail for the crime of showing the world the horrors of the US war in Iraq and the complicity of governments like Australia and that is why he has been punished."
Greens senator Peter Whish-Wilson said it had been "a hard-fought battle" and one which "shone a light on a broken legal system, one in which an innocent man must plead guilty to be free".
"Although justice has not been served, today is a day to celebrate that Assange is finally coming home."
Independent senator David Pocock said the result was "a testament to a powerful campaign … Whistleblowers should be protected, not prosecuted."
Mr Joyce thanked colleagues from across the aisle, including Labor's Tony Zappia, for their support of the cause. He also thanked the prime minister and opposition leader for lending their support to his release.
"It was very important that it was not [just] us that did it … Everybody did their part," he said, thanking Mr Assange's wife, Stella, his father, John and his lawyer, Jennifer Robinson.