The man in the red T-shirt with Grumpy on the front and the slogan "I got out of bed for this" didn't quite get the mood of the day. Election day really did feel like a celebration of democracy rather than a tired ritual.
His down-beat wariness as he stood in line to vote at Aranda Primary School was out-shone by a million cup-cakes and a zillion sizzling sausages.
And red jelly.
Labor leader Andrew Barr duly paid for the jelly with his smart watch and worked out how to eat it gracefully in front of cameras.
It was, he pronounced, "delicious".
At North Ainslie primary, Greens leader Shane Rattenbury opted for a chocolate and raspberry brownie and, yes, that too was delicious. "That'll sugar me through the next couple of hours," he announced to the waiting media.
There was an air of relief, even light-headed euphoria among candidates who have trudged the hard yards in rain and shine. They have shaken hands and nodded their heads.
And so to the final tape: election's big day even though nearly half the electorate had already voted.
First off the blocks in the big day's sausage sizzle marathon was Liberals leader Elizabeth Lee who voted at Red Hill Primary School.
She likened Saturday to a wedding where all the concentration is on getting to the day itself. "You prepare and prepare and prepare and a lot of people go, 'So what's going to happen after', and you say, 'Hold on, we have to get there first'."
She wouldn't say "what's going to happen after" to her if the Liberals don't win. Will she stay or will she go? She wasn't saying.
Andrew Barr, too, was not saying anything about the days to come. He was still in the grip of the run-up to the election: "It's a very intense experience. This is a hundred days in a row that I've been campaigning," Mr Barr said.
"So that's more than three months. It's a long year so you've got to recharge as best you can and get back out there."
His sleep routine has been less than the recommended eight hours, going to bed around 11 o'clock but getting up at five or six. "That's largely been the story," he said.
Moving into politician mode, he added that he had had been fortunate to have such a great team who had made "no gaffes, no mistakes" - unlike the Greens, he swiped.
Over in Ainslie, the Greens leader also went into political mode after his reference to the raspberry brownie.
"The Greens have put forward a really positive platform, a clear platform that seeks to tackle the big issues our community is facing: housing pressure, cost of living pressure, the need for real climate action. These are the things we've talked about throughout the campaign."
But where they the things the electorate was talking about?
At Red Hill, some of the early voters had more down-to-the ground concerns.
"Around here the footpaths are appalling. They're an absolute hazard for an old person like me and my dog," Kerin Cox said as she held the lead to her dog, Cleo.
"I wouldn't vote for anybody who didn't vote for a voluntary assisted dying," her friend Meridith Crowley said. "I don't like the conservative attitude - and, of course, the holes in the road. Your car goes 'thump' every time you go over them."
