The glacial pace of counting by the Queensland Electoral Commission, and the stark difference between pre-poll votes and those cast on the day,  allowed Labor to believe for much of Saturday night that it had performed better than it did.

The baseball bats, which the initial opinion polls indicated may be swung, appeared sheathed. This, we heard, was due to a superior campaign by Steven Miles, a better ground and social media campaign by Labor and the hamfisted intrusion of abortion into the campaign.