[13] Ayres was born to a father serving in the Australian Defence Force which resulted in his moving to various locations across Australia until settling in Penrith in 1993.

[16] Ayres was an account executive for Austereo (2DayFM and Triple M radio stations), and returned to the Australian College of Physical Education in 2008, initially as student recruitment manager and then later as director of marketing and business development.

[18] Ayres took the previously safe Labor seat on a 25.7-point swing—the largest swing against a sitting government in New South Wales history.

[28] Following the 2019 state election, Ayres was sworn in as the Minister for Jobs, Investment, Tourism and Western Sydney in the second Berejiklian ministry, since 2 April 2019.

[29] Upon Gladys Berejiklian's resignation on 1 October 2021, Ayres sought the Deputy Leadership of the Liberal Party on a ticket with Dominic Perrottet as the leader.

[30] Ayres stood down as a cabinet member while he was being investigated over a potential breach of the ministerial code of conduct for an intervention he took with Investment NSW's chief executive Amy Brown to add an additional candidate to the shortlist for the position.