Gina Rinehart has been forced to share her riches. But will she fight on or end the family feud?

In another loss, Hancock will also be forced to pay a smaller share of royalties to the family business of the late Don Rhodes, another of the Pilbara pioneers who was instrumental in helping Hancock open up vast swathes of WA for development.

Following the verdict, Matt Keady, the current chief executive of DFD Rhodes, described the result as a win, saying Hancock Prospecting and Rinehart had been “formidable opponents”.

“We are very, very pleased that the court has recognised the contribution of Don Rhodes to the iron ore industry,” Keady said.

Within minutes of the verdict, Hancock Prospecting and Wright Prospecting were both claiming victory. As Smith noted when discussing costs, both parties had arguably “won half of its case and lost half of its case”.

Hancock Prospecting was happy that Wright’s ownership claims had been dismissed, but reserved most of its glee for the court’s rejection of what it called the “abusive claims of serious wrongdoing” made against Rinehart by her eldest children, John Hancock and Bianca Rinehart.

Smith found that their claim to a share of the Hope Downs royalty stream “failed at the first hurdle”, blaming the “fraudulent” actions of Lang Hancock for shifting assets away from Hancock Prospecting in the first place and clearing Rinehart of the “egregious” fraud her children had alleged.

Smith handballed most of the family dispute back to a separate confidential arbitration that is still to determine how billions of dollars of Hancock Prospecting shares are divided between the family.

This matter is likely to be more consequential to Rinehart’s standing as Australia’s richest person given it may yet substantially reduce her stake in the company.

Following the ruling, John Hancock took a conciliatory tone, asking his mother – with whom he has been feuding for more than two decades – for reconciliation.

The Wright-Hancock trial has exposed the Hancock dynasty to be a family racked by intergenerational infighting, with no shortage of vicious claims made between the parties.

John Hancock’s challenge to his mother to bury the hatchet and return to a level of familial harmony has given Rinehart the ultimate challenge.

Does she keep fighting to win? Or does she agree to share?

If the family matriarch accepts the invitation from her son, then Wednesday’s judgment will be truly consequential – it will have forced a backdown from a woman who is notoriously unyielding.

And while billions of dollars may yet be at stake, a decision from Rinehart to stop fighting – well, that would be priceless.