At the Basque Club in Sydney, proud Catalans sipped strong coffee in the early hours of the morning as they watched the main Catalan television station TV3.
Anna Vilalta's mother was volunteering at a polling station at her home town of Lleida when police stormed the building.
"We are deeply saddened and agrieved by what's happening in Catalonia. We weren't expecting such a violent reaction by the Spanish police. We thought something was going to happen but not to this extent," she said.
Ms Vilalta, who has lived in Australia for 11 years, is a passionate supporter of breaking away from Spain and becoming an independent Catalonia state.
"That's the language that I speak with my parents, that's the songs they used to sing to me as a child. I always learnt Spanish, I love the Spanish language, I love the Spanish people but that's not me, that's simply not me. The same way that I love French, but that's not me."
With two Spanish grandparents, Emilio Ferrer has only become a supporter of independence recently, citing the Spanish government's failure to negotiate with the Catalonian regional government.
"I haven't had any sleep tonight, I'm running on coffee because it is really very worrying. I have relatives and friends over there, I have a 90-year-old aunt that went to vote today with a wheelchair."
He had watched the vote unfold overnight with mixed emotions.
Emilio Ferrer says it's been a day of pride and sadness. Source: SBS World News
"Today's been a day of pride and sadness. Pride because Catalan people have reacted in an amazing way to an opposition to express their democratic right to decide whether they want to be independent. Sadness as well because there's actually been 800 people injured by Spanish police trying to stop people voting."
"And a little bit of anger as well because one would have thought in a country that calls itself democratic this wouldn't happen."
Albert Solé was surprised by the level of violence.
"We thought that we were coming here to see the results, the percentage of people going to vote, the percentage of yes or no, and here we're counting the number of people who got hurt instead of the numbers of people going to express themselves freely."
Wishing they were there
"I feel a little bit helpless," Esteve Mayolas, President of the Catalan Association of New South Wales, said.
"I wish to be close to my family and be one of these people to help the vote go through."
"I haven't been able to sleep for the fear of people getting injured as well not being able to do anything else but send them encouraging messages."
It's unclear how many Catalans live in Australia as the Census only records Spanish numbers, but there are 120 members of the Catalan Association in Sydney and 250 members in Melbourne.
Esteve Mayolas is the President of the Catalan Association of NSW. Source: SBS World News
Much of the discussion at the Basque Club was about what would happen next.
While there's plenty of unknowns, Mr Mayolas says one thing is clear: "There is no going back."
"We draw a line these past few days, the line is the difference between what is feeling part of Spain, and becoming a new nation and fulfilling your own desires of becoming independent."
