In just over a week, Labor's decision to fire its big shot - its official campaign launch - inside the final week of the election campaign may be seen as madness or pure genius.
It is unusual to leave your big pitch so late in the campaign.
But Labor perhaps believes it will be the event that catapults it across the line on August 21.
No doubt, the final assessment on whether it was the right thing to do will be judged through the prism of victory or defeat.
With a week to go until polling day, no-one but the most enthusiastic punter is willing to gamble on the outcome.
It's hardly surprising. The past year in politics has shown anything is possible.
A year ago, Kevin Rudd was facing Malcolm Turnbull at the despatch box.
Who would have predicted 12 months later the election would end up a contest between Julia Gillard and Tony Abbott?
And the match-up between the man formerly lampooned for spruiking his "people skills" and Rudd's once-loyal deputy who became prime minister after cutting down the leader, has proven to be a real contest.
Since Gillard rang the starting bell four weeks ago, the campaign has been a roller coaster for both Labor and the coalition.
One moment one side is in the ascendency and, before you know it, the other has leap-frogged ahead by virtue of a big policy announcement or a particularly persuasive television appearance.
Opinion polls have see-sawed and voters could sometimes be forgiven for not knowing which leader they were seeing.
First they were introduced to the woman they thought was prime minister, only to be told a fortnight later she wasn't the "Real Julia", who had decided to unshackle herself from the strictures of a safe campaign.
Abbott professed to always be the real deal - except that anyone who had known him before was not convinced this disciplined, non-controversial individual heading the coalition's 2010 election bid was the same leader formerly ridiculed as the Mad Monk.
Then there was the leader who was leader no more, Kevin Rudd.
After keeping him in purgatory for the first few weeks of the campaign, by the midway point Labor was seeking rapprochement with the man it had dumped to win over swinging voters in Queensland.
And former leaders from both sides kept coming out of the woodwork - John Howard, Mark Latham, Bob Hawke, Paul Keating, Andrew Peacock, Malcolm Fraser and John Hewson.
Howard aside, and with a few welcome diversions from Hawke, they all proved more hindrance than help to the parties they once led.
In many ways, the national campaign has been a circus, more of a distraction than a real political show.
Only in past week or so did the main players appear to be getting serious about the policy.
Even so, the coalition was confident enough of Labor's damaged brand to go to its campaign launch last Sunday with a bare bones offering - devoid of new policy - of a three-month action plan should it win government.
It was audacious. And, coming a day after the Labor caravan went off the rails, it appeared remarkably astute.
But the political winds can change swiftly in a campaign.
A few solid education announcements, a determined argument about the economy and a charmingly confident performance by Gillard on the ABC's Q&A - and the Labor was back on the front foot.
A bungled explanation of his largely unpopular broadband policy and Abbott was playing defensively.
He stole the show at the Rooty Hill RSL, where an open and expansive opposition leader won over the hand-picked swinging voters.
Gillard found it a much tougher audience - and it may have been symptomatic of the problem Labor faces in western Sydney.
The twists and turns of the week and a costings row drowning out the economic debate meant it was a pretty even race by the time both sides entered the home straight.
With its slight edge in the opinion polls and the launch on Monday, Labor is tipped to have the early momentum.
Will it be enough to give it the winning edge?
Treasurer Wayne Swan seemed to be hinting the ALP wouldn't necessarily be throwing the money around at its main set-piece event.
Even if the spending is not extravagant, there may be targeted measures that could prove crucial in swaying some undecided voters.
In such a tight race, the final week will prove critical.
If the past four weeks are any indication, it will not be a case of one leader streaking ahead.
More likely it'll be who slides over the line - or stumbles - first.
