UPDATE 7.20pm: DERRYN Hinch has spoken on the air from his hospital bed this afternoon.
The Human Headline expressed his gratitude to his doctors, his organ donor and those supporting him.
"I feel great," he said on 3AW, the station on which he usually hosts the drivetime show.
"I'm so grateful and so honoured and keeping in mind through all of this that there's a grieving family out there and through their generosity I am still alive."
The broadcaster phoned in from intensive care at the Austin Hospital to his radio show just before 6pm.
He said he wasn't feeling any different compared to before the operation and was still struggling to make sense of things.
"It hasn't really sunk in yet that I have a donated organ in my body," he said.
The veteran radio presenter showed his sense of humor was recovering well, joking he may have condemned a small part of someone to jail.
He also revealed that he is completely in awe of his surgeon, Professor Bob Jones.
"I hold very few people in awe, but I can honestly say I hold one person in awe and that is Professor Bob Jones ... to me, he is a god."
His 3AW Drive radio show producer Shannon Reid reported that when she had seen Hinch earlier in the day he had appeared groggy and was still connected to a number of tubes.
According to a 3AW tweet, Hinch phoned ex-wife Jacki Weaver last night before his surgery, and she called Reid today from an LA movie set to see how her former husband was going.
In a statement released this afternoon, Hinch said that he felt "fantastic and grateful".
"It is fantastic to receive a liver and I am so grateful that a family has donated an organ in their time of grief," he said.
"So far, I've come through well. Obviously it is the start of a long haul but we're getting there in what was becoming a fast-closing window.
"Chanel and I can't express our gratitude enough to Professor Bob Jones and the incredible team at the Austin Hospital. It is amazing what they can do.
"My thoughts are also with those who are on the waiting list awaiting a transplant.
"Finally, I thank my wife, Chanel, for her amazing support."
Hinch will likely spend up to 48 hours recovering in intensive care.
He is expected to then spend two to three weeks in the hospital's transplant ward before returning home to recover further.
Earlier, Hinch tweeted his gratitude to the family of his donor.
"In intensive care at the Austin. Feeling fantastic. Massive gratitude to the donor family. Thanks to the nurses. Will tweet again when can," he wrote.
After he woke from surgery he told friends he is a grateful and happy man.
The "Human Headline", who is battling liver cancer, underwent potential life-saving liver transplant surgery at the Austin Hospital last night after being told about 7pm that an organ donor had been found.
But his doctors said today they initially had trouble contacting Hinch, who was at a farewell party for a 3AW colleague.
Hinch was anaesthetised just after midnight, with surgeons starting the surgery about 2am.
3AW tweeted at 1.30pm: "Groggy Hinch to @MissShannonReid: "It's just magic ... I am a grateful and a happy man." Hinch (via @HumanHeadline from intensive care)".
Shannon Reid works for Hinch as a producer on his radio show. The station then followed up by saying he was determined to speak on radio this afternoon.
Liver transplant unit director Professor Robert Jones said this morning Hinch had been a star patient who had listened to every instruction from doctors.
"Derryn had been on our list for many months and the cancer was getting quite out of control," he said.
He said Hinch had a 90 per cent chance of making it through the first year without any problems, but there was a 30 per cent chance the new organ would be rejected over the next few weeks.
"ICU will probably kick him out very quickly because he's going to start talking once he wakes up," Prof Jones said.
"He may be out of ICU in the next 24 hours because he's had such a good surgery."
He said Hinch's wife, Chanel, had been up all night nervously waiting for news.
"She's delighted," Prof Jones said.
Ms Hinch made the mercy dash to the hospital with Derryn but was told to go home soon after he went under anaesthetic.
Surgeons updated her throughout the night as to his condition.
"He (Derryn) was really good and calm and relaxed like he always is," she said.
"It all went really well and to plan."
"I feel so relieved. I can't wait to see him."
She said she had been overwhelmed by the support and good wishes for her husband.
"The surgeons are wonderful, they are closest thing to God, and also the donor family," she said.
Ms Hinch said the surgeons told her they couldn't have hoped for a better liver.
"He said it was a fabulous liver and he would have had it himself," she said.
She gave it "about an hour" before Hinch would be back on the radio.
"You really can't keep Derryn quiet," she said.
Donate Life director of organ and tissue donation Dr Helen Opdam said she hoped high-profile cases like Hinch would help the organ donation cause.
She said said organ donorship rates had increased dramatically since federal funding for a campaign in 2008.
"I think any positive promotion of donation is really good and hopefully people will be more aware of the lifesaving effects of organ donation as a result of Derryn's transplant," she said.
Dr Opdam said 168 people had donated their organs in the first six months of 2011, a 9 per cent increase on the previous year.
About 1500 people across Australia are on the waiting list for an organ.
Dr Opdam said organ recipients were matched to donors on a range of factors including their risk of dying.
"Being famous is not a criteria," she said.
Liver transplant surgeon Graham Starkey said the six-hour long surgery had gone well.
"The early signs are all very encouraging," he said.
"Derryn's a big man with a very scarred liver, and with every transplant there are some risks.
"We were worried about blood loss but everything settled down nicely towards the end."
Mr Starkey said Hinch still faced post-operative risks including complications from surgery and the risk of pneumonia. He said bleeding was a major concern during the next 48 hours.
"We would have liked for him to get a transplant six months ago," Mr Starkey said.
"With each day that goes by, we'll be more confident (that the transplant was successful).
"There's always the chance of things going wrong but having a very smooth operation is a good sign."
Wellwishers took to Twitter to offer support for Hinch, who revealed his cancer battle last year.
3AW colleagues Ross Stevenson and John Burns, tweeted: "There is a long road ahead and the thoughts of everyone here at @3AW693 are with Derryn (@humanheadline)".
Their breakfast rivals over at Triple M tweeted: "Best of luck to @humanheadline who's at the hospital to get a new liver. Massive operation, our thoughts are with you."
Hinch has been waiting for a decision on whether he would be jailed or serve a sentence at home after he was found guilty of contempt of court for revealing the names of two sex offenders whose identities were protected by court orders.
He will be sentenced on July 21.
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