The driver of a bus that crashed in the Hunter Valley killing 10 people has now been charged.

NSW Police say the 58-year-old man has been charged with 10 counts of dangerous driving occasioning death, driving in a dangerous manner and negligent driving (occasioning death).

The Maitland man was refused bail and will appear at Cessnock local court on Tuesday morning.

Acting assistant commissioner David Waddell will hold a press conference outside the Cessnock police station on Tuesday morning at 8am.

Goodnight from us

We’ll be wrapping up the live blog for the day now. Thanks for staying with us on what was a devastating day of news out of the Hunter Valley. The blog will be back tomorrow morning. Goodnight and stay safe

The driver of a bus that crashed in the Hunter Valley killing 10 people has now been charged.

NSW Police say the 58-year-old man has been charged with 10 counts of dangerous driving occasioning death, driving in a dangerous manner and negligent driving (occasioning death).

The Maitland man was refused bail and will appear at Cessnock local court on Tuesday morning.

Acting assistant commissioner David Waddell will hold a press conference outside the Cessnock police station on Tuesday morning at 8am.

Here is a shot from the latest press conference by Guardian Australia’s photographer-at-large Mike Bowers, who has been on the ground in the Hunter with Natasha May this afternoon.

Chapman: police in the process of removing bodies from the wreckage

Tracy Chapman says investigators also believe they have “an understanding” of those unaccounted for and are currently speaking to family members to identify all those involved.

Chapman says that it is “her understanding” there were 36 people on the bus, including the driver. Ten people were killed in the accident, another 25 were transported to hospital. Some have since been released.

Chapman says bus has now been righted in ‘delicate’ operation

Acting assistant police commissioner Tracy Chapman says the bus has now been righted in a “delicate” operation, as there were still victims’ bodies in the bus.

She also provided more information about what occurred during the accident.

As you can imagine it was a fairly frantic scene. A number of passengers were able to be extracted through the front windscreen of the bus – and then to deal with those in terms of that triage process with New South Wales ambulance.

Webb: driver ‘taken for mandatory testing’ for alcohol

Karen Webb says that one of the issues to be determined is whether all the passengers onboard the bus were waiting seatbelts at the time of the accident.

Webb also said the driver had been “taken for mandatory testing” to determine whether alcohol was a factor but the results are not yet known.

Karen Webb:

The most complex part of this job ahead for police now is actually accounting for the victims and passengers on the bus. You can imagine the scene that was confronting police when they attended and that many of those people were treated [and] some people were transported to different locations and then re-diverted.

Catley says the officers and first responders who have been involved in the investigation and the response will receive additional support.

There will be wrap-around services for you as well but we will make sure that you get that.

Police minister expresses sympathy for families and victims of Hunter bus crash

Yasmin Catley:

It’s unfathomable that we are here today on the end of our long weekend. And I can’t express deeply enough how saddened I feel for the families, for the community, for the first responders, for everybody involved. I mean, none of us want to be here during this, today. It is clearly just shocked. What has occurred is unnecessary.

Karen Webb says police are still “in the charging process” but is otherwise unable to say what the charges are.

As soon as we have that information we will share with you.

Webb says that the site is “still an active crime scene” that is currently being investigated.

I would also like this opportunity to praise all of the police officers and support staff that have been working on this scene around the clock, not just at the scene but also at the hospitals.

Hunter MP Dan Repacholi: ‘it’s devastating’

Repacholi, the federal member for the Hunter, was at the site of the crash on Monday afternoon. He said the entire community has been devastated since waking up to the news.

You don’t expect to hear this anywhere in Australia, let alone here in the Hunter Valley, which is the one of the most picturesque places in the world.

And then to have this happen and wake up to 10 deaths and lots of people in hospital, like it’s just something that you don’t you don’t ever think of will happen here.

It’s devastating for the families and the loved ones and everyone, friends are all involved, and these people that have passed away.

Everyone who has been in the Hunter at some stage has been on the bus, because that’s what we do here. We have buses so that people can go to these venues and have good days out and do good tastings and things like that in the area.

Bus crash press conference to come …

It is understood acting assistant police commissioner Tracy Chapman will be speaking at a press conference at 3pm. It will be the second for the day.

We will bring you the latest as it happens.

Locals lay floral tributes at crash site: ‘There’s so many people sending their condolences’

Odessa Sarnelli and Georgia Bainbridge each laid a bouquet of pink and cream flowers on Monday afternoon at the roundabout where the fatal crash occurred.

Bainbridge, a Branxton local, said she was up late last night watching a movie when she heard “all the sirens and all the commotion going on.”

But then it wasn’t until she woke up in the morning that she found out what had been their cause.

It was really sad just to see what happened, especially on such an amazing day for such an amazing couple, this tragedy.

Sarnelli, from Singleton, said she hopes the bride, the groom and the family are doing OK, as well as that the people in hospital make it out OK.

It’s just very scary to know that like, people from your community, this is what’s happened.

It’ll definitely be talked about a lot. I think a lot of us will sit there and commemorate these people.

We just have to be with everyone in the community and hold hands and make sure we’re all keeping each other safe during this time.

Bainbridge said although the community still didn’t know exactly who has been injured, everyone in the local community has been taking to social media to express their support amid the tragedy.

There’s so many people sending their condolences out, even when we don’t know who was involved in the accident, who’s hurt, who’s not, but so many people are already reaching out to everyone sending their love, sending condolences.

Transport for NSW secretary Howard Collins releases statement on bus crash

Everyone at Transport for NSW offers their deepest condolences to the families, friends and loved ones of those who have lost their lives or been injured in the tragic bus crash in the Hunter Valley overnight.

We also extend our sympathies to everyone dealing with this tragedy, and thank the frontline emergency services, medical teams - both onsite and in hospitals - and our own staff who are on location assisting with operations.

Transport for NSW continues to support emergency services at the scene with Traffic Commanders and other staff on site.

We will be providing specialist trauma support to our staff and assisting transport operators as required during this difficult time.

Transport for NSW advises everyone travelling today to avoid the area as investigations will continue for some time. Information on road closures will be available at livetraffic.com

The groom, Mitchell Gaffney, previously played for the club when he lived in Victoria, prior to moving north. Club president Royce Jaksic said members of the club were in shock. He said some of those associated with the club were among the injured, though not among those with life-threatening injuries.

Jaksic said his thoughts were with the families of those people who had lost their lives.

The information is still extremely sketchy. We are very hopeful and quite confident that none of our players and their partners have lost their lives. We probably had 13 or 14 people on the bus out of 37, for that to be the case is just a blessing. Someone was looking after them.

Jaksic was not president when Gaffney was at the club. But he said it was clear his family were “certainly well-loved in the community”.

They’ve been stalwarts in the community for a long period of time. Just goes to show that, five or six years later, we’ve got a heap of guys going up to the Hunter Valley to celebrate his wedding. So well respected, well-loved young man.

Celebrant posted prior to accident about marriage of ‘beautiful people’

The Hunter Valley celebrant who married the bride and groom prior to the tragic events of last night posted about the event on social media yesterday afternoon.

She said they were “beautiful people” and was touched to see the bride drive to the ceremony in an authentic Volkswagen beetle, restored by her father.

Today I had Maddy and Mitch get married out at Wandin. It was a beautiful ceremony ... I saw them for their first look ... Maddy rocked up to the ceremony in a restored 1957 Volkswagen beetle convertible.

It was so cool. [Her Dad] had been holding onto it for 42 years and finally got it ready for Madeleine’s wedding. They started the car up at the accommodation and drove it ... in through Wandin gates and down the grass onto the ceremony ... it was so cool to see her rock up in this bug.

The ceremony was held on the grass outside at the pontoon. Following the event, the couple drove back to the pavilion in the Volkswagen.