Just days after marrying Annabel Scholes, her partner of more than six years, Ms Stockwell said she found new meaning in the symbol for the first time.

"It reminded me of when I was in primary school and we came to Canberra and learned that the reason they chose that emblem was because the kangaroo and the emu couldn't walk backwards," she said.

"I was hoping and praying that was going to see us through ... that the nation wouldn't go backwards."

Leaving the court after meeting other marriage equality supporters and speaking to the media, Ms Stockwell said the decision wouldn't change the relationship she had with her wife.

"We have an official government certificate, signed and saying that we are married, that we are spouses. She is my wife and she will stay as my wife and that will never change."

She was more disappointed for couples who had missed the opportunity to marry under the now defunct laws.

Joel Player, who married his partner Alan Wright at 12.01am on Saturday, said he had been feeling ill all morning with nerves, and was in tears following the High Court ruling.

“Right now, I’m just disappointed, angry, annoyed, upset, emotional; I’m proud of what me and the other couples have achieved, but mostly I just don’t understand why they can’t just see past it, that it’s about love and hope,” he said.

“We knew that we might have a broken heart today, and be disappointed. But it is what it is, I guess.”

Mr Player was happy he had the memories of Saturday’s ceremony and was overwhelmed with the support they’d received. He vowed to continue to campaign for marriage equality.

“They’re memories I’m never going to lose. This one bad memory now has just put a dampener on everything today,” he said.

“If it becomes legal again, we’ll still be standing there, doing the same thing that we’ve done this week.”

Western Australian state Labor politician Stephen Dawson, who flew to Canberra to marry his partner Dennis Liddelow in the early hours of Saturday morning, said he had mixed feelings leading up to the High Court’s decision.

“I am disappointed in the decision. While my heart said one thing, my head said another leading up to the decision. My heart said they’ve given us this window of opportunity, perhaps it’s going to be a positive sign. My head was saying I wasn’t sure the territory could legislate in this area,” he said.

Mr Dawson called on Prime Minister Tony Abbott to “catch up with public sentiment” on the issue.

“It puts pressure on the federal government. The ball is in Tony Abbott’s court now, and he has to act,” he said.

“We will keep fighting until the federal parliament changes their mind and recognises the rights of same-sex marriage in law.”

Canberran Darlene Cox, who married her partner Liz Holcombe on Saturday morning, said she was “not surprised, but bitterly disappointed” by the High Court’s ruling.

But she was grateful she’d had the opportunity to get married, even if it only lasted a matter of days in the view of the law.

“It doesn’t change the way that we feel about each other, and it doesn’t change the fact that Saturday, for both of us, was one of the best days of our lives," she said.

“As far as we’re concerned, we’re married, we’ve done it.”

Ms Cox called on Mr Abbott to pour as much effort into federal marriage equality as he had already poured into fighting the ACT’s legislation.

“They [the Abbott government] now need to put their money where their mouth is and actually provide for marriage equality in Australia so we have a national approach,” she said.

Like many couples, Margaret Clarke and Anne-Marie Delahunt viewed the development as a step towards full marriage equality legislated by the Commonwealth Parliament.

"I think that’s the right way to go now and I am going to put my energy into taking that forward," Ms Clark said.

"We just see this as a little blip in the arc of justice," she said.