Malcolm Turnbull's resetting of the "rules" of Liberal partyroom spills took the wind out of Peter Dutton's sails.
The decision by Mr Turnbull to delay a meeting until high noon on Friday wrong-footed his challenger and bought time for Scott Morrison and Julie Bishop to crunch their numbers and woo wavering colleagues.
He insisted Mr Dutton - who lost an initial tilt on Tuesday - present the names of 43 MPs who wanted a spill.
And the outgoing PM raised doubts in the minds of some MPs - and the voting public - by seeking advice from the solicitor-general about the eligibility of the former home affairs minister to sit in parliament.
The two hurdles meant Mr Morrison and his new deputy Josh Frydenberg could win over a handful of tentative Dutton supporters.
It said much about the situation that Mr Dutton did not present the 43-name petition to Mr Turnbull until just 40 minutes before the meeting was due to be held.
Going into the meeting, MPs expressed mixed feelings about the situation they found themselves in.
The vote for a spill was won narrowly 45-40, meaning if three cabinet ministers - Mathias Cormann, Michaelia Cash and Mitch Fifield - had not gone to the Dutton camp based on their belief about the momentum behind the leadership contender the spill itself would have failed.
Mr Dutton was conciliatory after the ballot and there are reports he may be asked to stay on in cabinet.
"I thank Malcolm Turnbull very much for his service as prime minister of this country and Julie Bishop who's been an amazing foreign affairs minister and deputy leader of our party," he said.
"My course from here is to provide absolute loyalty to Scott Morrison, to make sure we that we win the election and defeat Bill Shorten and make sure he's never prime minister."
A delay in the Liberal leadership vote may have hurt Peter Dutton's chance to become prime minister. (AAP)
