On a day the election was called, Josh Frydenberg knew he would be in for an uncomfortable night.
The federal Treasurer kept quiet during the daylight hours on Thursday, leaving Prime Minister Scott Morrison to do all the heavy lifting.
Instead, Mr Frydenberg prepared to front a packed arts centre in his Victorian electorate of Kooyong, ready for disgruntled voters to grill him about climate change.
He was on a hiding to nothing.
The Morrison government has been routinely slammed by non-conservatives for its attitude towards climate change.
Coalition MPs have laughed about it in parliament, with one infamously bringing in a lump of coal to question time in 2017.
Considering the current political environment and the theme for the night being climate change, all eyes were on the deputy Liberal Party leader to see how he would go.
Mr Frydenberg held his own as he sat through the five other Kooyong candidates hammering him and the coalition before getting a chance to respond.
High-profile Greens candidate Julian Burnside took a shot, calling climate change the "greatest human rights challenge we face".
Former Liberal Party member Oliver Yates, who announced his independent candidacy in January, performed strongly by going on the attack against Mr Frydenberg.
"Climate change is a symptom of a failing political system, led by politicians who are addicted to donations and their own self-interest," he said.
"Past and present environment ministers who won't act with integrity on climate change need to be voted out."
Mr Frydenberg was never going to be the crowd favourite in a room full of people calling for more action on climate change.
However, he more than held his own, which should do his hopes of hanging on to the safe Liberal seat no harm.
Mr Frydenberg holds Kooyong with a margin of 12.8 per cent, having won 58.2 per cent of the primary vote in 2016.
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