There is no better hype woman than Penny Wong.
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An elated crowd filling out the brightly lit function room in Canterbury-Hurlstone RSL roared for the Foreign Minister as she strode onto the stage.
"Thank you friends, thank you for believing in Labor," Senator Wong bellowed to a crowd which needed little encouragement.
They had been waiting for Mr Albanese to arrive for some time, edging closer to the stage, with an excited anticipation.
Now they were at the peak, spilling out in a sea of red, welcoming their new Prime Minister.
Cheers had erupted in the function room early and often, and as the night progressed past 8pm a sense of nervous caution upheld by Labor staffers and supporters right up until the end was abandoned.
Labor will form majority government, and Mr Albanese will be the first prime minister to win back-to-back elections since John Howard.
The sense of history was not lost on the crowd.
"Albo, Albo, Albo!," rang out the chant around the room as the victorious Prime Minister made his way to the podium.
As he arrived at centre stage, Mr Albanese's first act was to grasp the hands of his son Nathan, and fiancee Jodie, in a united sign of victory.
Earlier, the crowd had booed and waved as Mr Dutton delivered his concession speech, both acknowledging the party's loss and his own, to Labor's Ali France in the seat of Dickson.
But Mr Albanese chided his supporters when hearing the jeering in the crowd.
His speech hit all the high points, delivered with a sense of victory and charged with self-belief.
"It is with a deep sense of humility and a profound sense of responsibility that the first thing that I do tonight is to say 'thank you' to the people of Australia for the chance to continue to serve the best nation on Earth," he told supporters," he said.
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"Today, the Australian people have voted for Australian values: for fairness, aspiration and opportunity for all.
"Australians have voted for a future that holds true to these values, a future built on everything that brings us together."
For a moment, Mr Albanese struggled to fish his Medicare card out of his pocket, but this was quickly washed away by the eruption of support for the Prime Minister's signature move.
But it was his promise to new Labor voters that will carry him forward tomorrow.
"So many Australians who have voted Labor for the first time," Mr Albanese said.
"I make this solemn pledge, we will not forget that, we will never take it for granted, repaying your trust will drive our government each and every day of the next three years."
And so, as the Foreign Minister put it, begins the next chapter.
