A day before Australia went to the polls, prime minister Malcolm Turnbull stood on a wooden palette and talked up his "jobs and growth" plan at a Sydney robotics factory.
Turnbull was trying in earnest to bring the conversation back to the economy and shake off questions over the controversial marriage equality plebiscite, which threatened to derail his central message in the final week of the campaign.
A day earlier Turnbull was asked twice about the plebiscite during his final address at the National Press Club. The day before that he was peppered with seven gay marriage questions in a row during a testy campaign doorstop in the tiny room of a Chinese Yum Cha restaurant.
The campaign had enough. On the Friday before the election, Turnbull's team decided it wouldn't let travelling reporters ask questions of the prime minister at the factory in western Sydney.
The PM would tour around the factory with his wife Lucy, local MP Craig Laundy, and defence minister Marise Payne, and then hold a "rally" atop the blue palette, surrounded by blue shirts.
It angered reporters whose media organisations were paying up to $2,000 per day to send them around the country with the prime minister.
Up the back of the factory, one senior journalist engaged in a conversation with Turnbull's travelling confidante, Sally Cray.
The PM's private secretary had worked on and off for Malcolm Turnbull for almost a decade. She remains one of Turnbull's most trusted advisers and re-joined the PMO after a stint at the ABC in corporate affairs.
"Why no presser today?" the journalist asked Cray.
"Well, you clearly don't have any questions left for the campaign, if you're all stuck asking about gay marriage."
It was symbolic of the frustration within the Turnbull camp about the plebiscite issue. In the final 10 days of the tight campaign, the spotlight fell on Scott Morrison, Julie Bishop and several conservative MPs who were all speaking out on the plebiscite.
Days from polling day, a key day was lost when Morrison said that as a straight, Christian politician he also was a target of hatred and bigotry, just like the kind gay Labor MP Penny Wong receives.
Eight weeks later, a day before the start of the new parliament, Nick Xenophon said his senate team would vote against the plebiscite, effectively dooming the legislation and sinking the national vote.
Extracted from What A Time To Be Alive: That And Other Lies Of The 2016 Campaign, by Mark Di Stefano. MUP is offering BuzzFeed readers a 25% discount on the $27.99 RRP, plus free shipping. Click here, entering promo code BUZZ25 when prompted.