"To see them in two little cots - I can't tell you what it looks like," Margaret Smith, chief executive of the Children First Foundation, told Radio 3AW this morning.

"After seeing them in a V-shape as we're used to seeing them and now they're not, they're separate. These two little long bodies in the bed. It's just magnificent."

Ms Smith said the Bangladeshi girls were in a serious condition but were "as good as can be expected".

"We've just got to take heart from that to be patient, at least for another 48 hours anyway to see where they are at."

Ms Smith said the girls' beds were placed near each other to help minimise the shock of separation when they awoke, but because of the equipment needed for both children the beds are not adjacent.

"In that sense they're fairly close but not right next door to one another," Ms Smith said.

Ms Smith said there have been positive signs since the operation was finished.

She said Krishna had not been using her kidneys for some time. Her sister's body had been doing the work for both of them. But soon after the operation Krishna began producing urine.

"Krishna's brain has kicked in and she is now urinating for herself, and that is really wonderful, wonderful news that there is no need for dialysis," she said.

Danielle Noble, the volunteer aid worker who first brought the two little girls to the attention of the Children First Foundation, said she found news of the separation "surreal".

"Yesterday when I saw the headlines flash up on the news - Twins Separated - I don't think I have really been able to process the information," Ms Noble told 3AW.

"Until I see the two little bodies on two little beds it's all going to seem a little bit beyond belief."