More than one-in-four smokers attempted to quit in the first year of plain packaging, up from one-in-five, a new report has revealed.

Plain packs and health warnings encourage thoughts about quitting and actual attempts, the Cancer Council Victoria-led study found.

“Plain packaging achieved its specific objectives within its first year after implementation, which is quite stunning,” Cancer Council Victoria’s Professor Melanie Wakefield said.

• Diet soft drinks ‘linked’ to triple belly fat
• Store-bought salmon is not the colour you think
• Parents ‘duped’ by sugar-coated breakfast cereals

“Our research should give confidence to other countries who are interested to go forward with plain packaging.”

Researchers found no evidence that the laws, which removed branded logos and imposed graphic images of smoking-caused disease, led to an increase in the sale of illicit cigarettes.

The reforms also reduced the appeal of packs among teenagers.

The study was presented at the World Conference on Tobacco or Health in Abu Dhabi on Thursday.

To coincide with the conference, 14 papers on the topic have been published in a supplement in the British Medical Journal.

The findings are based on interviews with over 5000 Australian adult smokers carried out before and after plain packaging was introduced in December 2012 and a separate survey of 6000 high school students.

The research will confirm the tobacco industry’s worst fears about the effectiveness of plain packaging, said Cancer Council Victoria CEO Todd Harper.

“What we can expect now is the tobacco industry will increase their efforts globally to try and persuade government to try and not introduce plain packaging,” he said.

The UK’s House of Lords is due to vote this week on introducing similar legislation.

If they back last week’s vote by MPs, plain packaging will be introduced in the UK in May 2016.

Ireland recently voted to introduce similar legislation.