"Nine's loss is our gain." The Project panel on Lisa Wilkinson's new role.

Tuesday night’s hosts of The Project, Carrie Bickmore, Waleed Aly, Peter Helliar and Fifi Box, have officially announced the exciting news that Lisa Wilkinson will soon be joining them.

While the hosts didn’t acknowledge the current controversy surrounding Wilkinson’s move – that is, rumours that she fought for salary parity – they collectively acknowledged they’ve long been fans of Wilkinson, and now, said Aly, they’re “contractually allowed to say it”.

Yes that was some live footage after the announcement about our new workmate @Lisa_Wilkinson! #TheProjectTV pic.twitter.com/0Go5mq4fwo

— The Project (@theprojecttv) October 17, 2017

Bickmore said she was “excited” to work alongside the veteran journalist and TV host.

Wilkinson announced on Monday night she was leaving The Today Show after ten years, sharing a statement from Nine. Less than an hour later, it was announced she would be joining the Ten Network, as a co-host of The Project, and in “further collaborations”.

Breaking: Lisa Wilkinson quits Today show, joins Network Ten. 10 Statement: pic.twitter.com/qBT1MzA8VC

— Daniel Sutton (@danielsutton10) October 16, 2017

This morning, viewers woke up without Wilkinson’s familiar face on Today. 

“It’s a very big day for us on the show, and a very big day for Lisa Wilkinson — and we’ll have plenty more to say about that later in the program,” Stefanovic told viewers as he opened the show this morning about 5.30am.

They quickly moved right past it: “As we always do, we will get on with the news of the day.”

Two hours into the show, about 7.30am, Stefanovic commenced the show’s farewell to Wilkinson alongside a compilation of some of her best moments.

“For 10 years Lisa has dragged herself out of bed at 3.30 in the morning, fed the dogs and cats, put a load of washing on and came into work to inform you of what was happening in the world,” Stefanovic began.

Listen: Mia Freedman interviews Lisa Wilkinson for No Filter.

“For 10 years she handled the brutal hours with a grace, beauty, intelligence and wicked sense of humour. For whatever reason, she won’t be doing that now.”

“Thank you for the laughs, the sage advice, the calmness, oh, the calmness,” he said. “Thank you for all of your support. Thank you for being a great colleague. Thanks for being a great interviewer. Thanks for being a great dancer and a truly, truly terrible singer. Thanks for being a great mum – I know you value that more than anything else. And thank you for being a great friend.”