Bowern (2011) reclassified Darumbal as a Maric language, but did not address Bayali. Bouckaert, Bower, and Atkinson (2018), based on more data and languages of the region, classify Darumbal as a sister of Mbabaram (and therefore related to Maric languages, though as the first to branch off within that group). Bayali is grouped with the Waka-Kabi languages to the south.