With the House of Representatives composition now known, though with the Senate still to be finally decided, this note is directed to an election post-mortem.

Consider first the 56 Liberal party room denizens who last September voted (or in two cases would have voted if present) to sack the Prime Minister who led them to a crushing victory only two years earlier – endowing the Coalition with an absolute majority of 30 and a 35-seat majority over Labor.