Soph7 - this is great news! i hope tyo receive such email soon then!
Rebecca - I have already spoken with immigration about the medical as mine expires on Tuesday,and the police checks too. They said the following :
The validity of your medicals can be extended to a maximum of six months from date of expiry which may or may not be sufficient to avoid having to redo them as they were already 3 months old when you lodged your application, however we make every effort to try and avoid this.
Your UK penal although it may have expired by the time the application is finalised remains valid, provided you do not return to the UK for a total Cumulative period exceeding 60 days
Your AFP penal although it may have expired by the time the application is finalised remains valid for the grant of the Partner (Temporary) UK 820 visa only, you will need to provide a current AFP when the Partner (Residence) BS801 visa is considered for grant.
So that all seems to be ok!
The form 80 is horrible! best thing to do though is get stuck in! I did a draft copy and then highlighted things to look up and come back to. The hardest part for me was listing all the countries i have been to, i have travelled europe. i'll be honest i stopped after 10! They can also accept your Oz Police check after it expire
Thanks for your posts ladies it is good to know we are all in a similar boat and it appears things are starting to happen with them! yay!