Wearing 'Daphne was right' t-shirts and carrying flowers, friends and family of Daphne Caruana Galizia marked the sixth anniversary of her murder with a vigil at the site of her assassination.

Around 100 people gathered in silence at 3pm on Monday to mark the moment a bomb tore through her car, killing the 52-year-old investigative journalist on 16 October 2017.

"The bomb intended to silence her gave momentum to her voice," the crowd at a field in Bidnija was told before flowers were laid at a poster marking the spot where her bombed car came to rest. 

Earlier, people painted a large poster of her face as extracts of her journalism were read out, including what transpired to be a prophetic piece of writing in the January before her death.

"No, 2017 is not going to be better than 2016," she had written in a New Year's message. "I suppose I should wish you all a happy new year but I get the feeling, somehow, that it's going to be a whole lot worse than the last one."

The mother-of-three was killed when a bomb placed underneath her car detonated as she drove away from her home. Her son, Matthew, was the first on the scene.

Three men who carried out the murder are in prison. Brothers George and Alfred Degiorgio were sentenced to 40 years in prison last year while Vincent Muscat is serving a 15-year sentence after reaching a plea bargain deal.

The alleged mastermind, Yorgen Fenech, is awaiting trial along with two others accused of supplying the bomb. A third man, Melvin Theuma, the alleged middleman in the plot, has been pardoned. 

The Daphne Caruana Galizia Foundation was set up after her death to support efforts to protect investigative journalists, who have since carried on her work to expose corruption.