There was a moment of mischief as AMs assembled to witness the nomination of Rhodri Morgan as First Minister.
Tory AM Alun Cairns glanced up towards the public gallery and happily waved at former Labour finance minister Sue Essex, who stood down at the elections, and was now an interested spectator.
He motioned towards her old seat on the cabinet front bench and appeared to mouth the words: "It could have been me."
Rhodri was also quick to acknowledge that 36 hours earlier, Labour was staring at the abyss of opposition and he would have been out of a job.
Those well-upholstered leather seats would have been inhabited for the first time by others.
But at a vital stage the Lib Dems, for whatever motive, blinked in the headlights of power, and in failing to endorse a deal with Plaid and Conservatives, the moment was lost.
Mr Morgan, in anecdotal mood as ever, heard about the pivotal decision at 10pm on Wednesday, en route to his B&B in Llandudno where he was attending the Wales TUC conference.
He could not resist the temptation of a playful swipe at Welsh Lib Dem leader Lembit Opik who had missed a previous executive meeting while recording a comedy quiz show for TV.
"It was a case of 'Have I Got News for You, Rhodri."
The following morning over breakfast: “I was reading The Times and I read my political obituary, I read I was toast while I was eating my toast.”
The First Minster-in-Waiting - at least until the Queen replies to an Assembly fax to approve the Royal appointment - seemed to appreciate how close he came to political history.
It was time, he said, to find the 'new centre of gravity of Welsh politics'.
His would become a 'listening government', seeking a 'progressive consenus'.
It was unclear whether this was an open invitation to Triple Alliance refuseniks in Plaid (Helen Mary Jones, Bethan Jenkins and Nerys Evans) and in the Lib Dems (Kirsty Williams and Peter Black) to join the Labour Party.
If it were a more generally targetted olive branch to the other parties, it was lost on Conservative Assembly leader Nick Bourne, who had seen the Tories' first ministerial posts in Wales since 1997 cruelly snatched away.
He sneered: “The Labour Party did not win this election, but a few Liberal Democrat activists have ensured that we still get Rhodri Morgan and Labour today."
Mr Bourne still holds out great hopes for the alliance, while Plaid leader Ieuan Wyn Jones and the hapless Lib Dems' Mike German were in more conciliatory temper - at least on this day of days.
Mr Jones suggested it was time to be 'less tribal'.
Perhaps he was waiting for powder to dry elsewhere.
Bizarrely, Mr German seemed the most diplomatic of all, telling Mr Morgan: "The Welsh Liberal Democrats will work constructively to help to meet that challenge."
Earlier, he was again promoting a triple alliance, Rainbow Coalition, All-Wales Accord to dump Mr Morgan out of office.
He has his work cut out to convince those in his party who would like to see the back of him as leader, but he is up for the fight.
"If we say no, then it begs the question what this party is for?"
Quite.
