London: This has been an election of surprises - some comic, some tragic, some deeply bewildering to experienced poll watchers. Indeed, the election itself was a surprise.
And now the result of Thursday's UK general election is too close to call (according to two reputable polls), with a man many dismissed as unelectable within reach of Number 10, and the Conservatives' new Iron Lady rusting faster than a badly painted gate in a rainstorm.
Even though Theresa May is best placed to return as prime minister on Friday, if she fails to deliver a big new swag of Conservative seats, knives will be sharpened against her and against the party's key strategists - including Australian electoral guru Sir Lynton Crosby.
She may also be handicapped in the Brexit negotiations that begin in just over a week, if she ends up with a thin majority in the House of Commons that must pass her eventual exit deal.
The election has deeply divided the country on demographic lines, with the under-25s even more opposed to the Tories than they were to Brexit, and retirees flocking to the Conservatives - the Tories can count on about two-thirds of the over-64s.
Polls differ strongly, giving the Conservatives a lead of between 1 per cent and 12 per cent coming into the last week of the campaign.
But the trend throughout the last six weeks has been Labour closing in on the Tories, who have stumbled at key moments in the campaign.
By any poll, the Conservatives have blown more than half their 20+ point lead at the start of the campaign. Times columnist Iain Martin called it their worst election campaign in a century.
Many voters will be faced with a classic "heart vs head" decision in their booths on Thursday.
According to the pollsters Populous, the Conservatives (as of late May) were far ahead of Labour on measures of being willing to take tough long-term decisions, having a team of good leaders, and on competence and capability.
But Labour were seen by more Britons as the party that shared their values, that represented the whole country.
Labour's heart was in the right place, and they were "on the side of people like me", those surveyed said.
There are similar sentiments about the party leader, who has long trailed his rival in preferred prime minister polls - suggesting the electorate like what Corbyn promises, but don't trust him to deliver it.
When she called the election May said it would be "all about leadership", contrasting her "strong and stable" values versus a "weak and unstable coalition" of Labour and the Scottish National Party.
Even on the most favourable polls, Labour would only win power as a minority government with the backing of the SNP and the Liberal Democrats - a scenario May and colleagues have taken to calling a "coalition of chaos".
May said she was the only leader who could be trusted to get the best Brexit deal for Britain.
Early in the campaign, Labour and the Conservatives were talking past each other.
May focused on Brexit and leadership, while Labour pushed a traditional line of social care, hospitals and taxing the rich and corporations.
There were early signs that Labour's ideas had chimed with the electorate, weary of austerity arguments. And the Conservative manifesto came with a massive own goal, a change to social support for the elderly that was dubbed a "dementia tax".
May eventually moved to fix the problem, promising a cap on costs, but in the process undermined her 'strong and stable' pose - which was already contested by people who pointed out she had been against Brexit, and had ruled out an early election.
Meanwhile, Mr Corbyn struck a sprightly, relaxed figure on the campaign stump - a side of his personality rarely seen since his original shock run at the Labour leadership.
Then tragedy struck, changing the focus and tone of the election. The Manchester and London Bridge terror attacks brought both parties onto the same contested territory: security.
It was comfortable ground for neither.
Corbyn has a long history of pushing a conciliatory line, easily painted as appeasement, with groups such as the IRA and Hamas. He was booed at a Manchester vigil the night after the bombing.
And May has zeroed in on Corbyn's previous opposition to laws aimed at giving security forces new powers to combat terrorism - laws that May introduced as home secretary.
But May had her own problem: as home secretary, in order to help balance the post-GFC budget, she presided over a huge cut to police numbers. There are still 20,000 fewer frontline police than there were in 2010, and fewer armed officers.
Labour can, and did, point to repeated warnings of the effect this would have - including the legitimate fear that slashing community policing would dry up a vital source of early warnings about extremism.
As more evidence emerges that the London and Manchester attackers had slipped through the counter-terror net, fingers have been pointed at May as bearing ultimate responsibility.
In the last days of the campaign, she sought to turn the issue back in her favour, vowing to tear up human rights laws if it was necessary to crack down on suspected terrorists.
Only the final vote will reveal where this incredibly volatile electorate will finally land.
According to political insiders from both parties, Labour is preparing for defeat and the Conservatives for victory. Despite the close polls, Labour's local politicians who have been knocking on doors believe they have no chance of holding more than 30 seats which will fall to the Conservatives.
Labour is in trouble in the Midlands and the north, areas that voted strongly for Brexit, and where many lifelong Labour voters will hold their noses and vote Tory because they trust May most to get the UK out of the European Union.
If voters shrug off their recent doubts and give May a thumping majority, it would likely be the end of Labour's experiment with Corbynism. But if she wins by a smaller margin, the result for Labour is uncertain.
Many in the Labour party had set Ed Miliband's 30.4 per cent vote share as the mark Corbyn would have to pass if he wanted any chance of retaining his leadership. Privately many are now rueing this ultimatum, looking at the polls which put Corbyn well above the figure, but still a loser.
And if May delivers a thin majority for her party, she will also face reprisals.
"Recriminations have already begun," says Mike Rann, former SA premier and high commissioner to the UK, now a consultant based in London.
"Senior Tories in politics and business say the over the top demonisation of the hapless Corbyn is a copycat of the failed campaign run against moderate Sadiq Khan in the London Mayoral election last year. Then the mild mannered Khan was depicted as a dangerous friend of Islamic terrorists and this backfired terribly. It just didn't fit the man or gel with the public perception of Khan.
"Tory insiders say that rather than learning from last year's defeat the campaign team, supported by the same group of rabid newspapers, was 'simply doing a Sadiq' on Corbyn, winning him sympathy he doesn't deserve.
"These critics are also saying the big backflip on the social care policies tore apart the campaign's core message about May's strength and resolve. When MPs criticise a PM's staff and advisers even before people vote, you know what they will be doing to May if it all goes pear-shaped".
