After an eight-week campaign, what was a few more hours.
Malcolm Turnbull kept the faithful waiting into Sunday morning as the excitement of election day gradually wore off.
There were glitzy chandeliers and lots of champagne, but the mood was the opposite of electric at Sydney's Wentworth Hotel.
It wasn't until 10.30pm on Saturday that things picked up at the Liberal party's official election night event - and that was only when John Howard arrived.
In a break from the time-checking and milling about there were cheers and applause for the former prime minister.
The small group stood in relative silence when Bill Shorten was beamed on the big screen inside the room.
The Labor leader's remarks on Medicare and the trade union movement elicited cries of "shame".
But the man of the hour woke did liven them up, despite the hour.
Striding out of a lift alongside wife Lucy after midnight, Mr Turnbull entered the ballroom to a chorus of "Malcolm" chants.
With sweat on his brow and a hoarse voice, he admitted the count was close.
"I can report that based on the advice I have from the party officials, we can have every confidence that we will for a coalition majority government in the next parliament," he said.
He suggested it might not be wise to stick around until counting wrapped up at 2am (AEST) - a mere hour-and-a-half-away.
"We will have to wait a few days," he added, noting when that counting would resume again on Tuesday.
Mr Turnbull slammed Labor's "extraordinary act of dishonesty" over Medicare, drawing shouts of "grubs" from the crowd.
With the make up of the new Senate still to emerge, he defended his decision to call a double-dissolution election.
"We need to restore the rule of law in the construction industry," he said, as Mr Howard and others applauded.
He saluted his wife and thanked his family, noting the challenging nature of politics.
It still remains to be fully seen what challenges Mr Turnbull - the parliament and Australian politics - will face in the coming days.
