He was one of the "faceless men" who brought down Julia Gillard, but senior ALP powerbroker David Feeney seems to have clung to his inner Melbourne seat.
Mr Feeney was embroiled in controversy early in the campaign when Fairfax Media revealed he owned a house not declared on his parliamentary interests register - which he negative geared. 
But the factional powerbroker seemed to have clung on by his fingernails after a huge swing to the Greens in the bitter battle for Batman. Late on Saturday the ABC was calling the seat for Mr Feeney ahead of Greens candidate Alex Bhathal with more than half the vote counted, but that had been seesawing all night.
Overall that represents a swing of 9.5 per cent to the Greens candidate. Mr Feeney remained in a back office with senior advisors late into the night, but emerged to speak to assembled media.
"Labor remains very confident that we will retain Batman, but it's going to be breathtakingly close," he said. "We have been ground zero for the Green Party effort right across the country, and we have been massively out spent. I'm here in this position tonight because of you and your efforts."
The close call in the election didn't stop his supporters having a riotous time on the thick red carpet of the Thornbury Theatre as they swigged bottles of Melbourne bitter and told polling booth war stories. The most weary supporters piled in late from the Tiger booths, so named because they were deep in the green jungle. They told stories of hand to hand combat.
One volunteer, a late arrival from the front lines, near collapsed onto the bar. He'd been fighting a day long battle with "feral" green volunteers at his local booth, both sides ripping down illegal corflutes and making empty threats.
The police had been called. He didn't even know the national figures, he said.
"Ask someone who knows something. And make sure you write down the Greens are feral".
Other volunteers said the Greens had massively out spent them, maybe up to seven to one in dollar terms.
Rumours abounded of interstate Greens volunteers being shipped in to bolster the fight.