Chris Hipkins is still the Labour Leader, emerging from the party's first post-election caucus meeting with the backing of his colleagues.
Before the meeting, he was flanked by his friends, facing up to the harsh reality of an electoral bruising.
"We are picking ourselves up again. It's been a pretty brutal weekend," Hipkins said.
A brutal verdict from the public - he lost out on the top job.
Immediately questions began swirling around whether Labour would let him keep his leadership.
"I am not done with politics yet," he said.
Hipkins was hesitant to commit to his role without chatting with his caucus team.
"The team has been increased, supporting each other, supporting the ones who will not be returning."
The team is hurting.
They were smashed from north to south. Labour fortresses like Mt Roskill flipped, while Mt Albert - the seat of Jacinda Ardern, David Shearer and Helen Clark - goes down to the wire, a 20,000 majority whittled to just over a hundred votes.
Labour's Mt Albert candidate Helen White said she wasn't embarassed by her result.
MPs new and old filed into the room, closed the door, and for nearly five hours thrashed out their thrashing.
Some failed to keep their temper in check as they emerged.
Asked if Hipkins was still leader of Labour, Damien O'Connor said: "F*** off."
Eventually, Hipkins appeared with an answer himself. He confirmed he was still the leader.
Well for now at least.
"The leader is the leader until they are not, and I am certainly still the leader of the Labour Party," Hipkins said.
The caucus has already been straying from script, talking about other contenders.
Willie Jackson admitted some have leadership aspirations.
Asked if he was expecting a contest and that Hipkins would have to fight to keep the leadership, Jackson said: "I hope not, but I am not sure."
No diligence done in presenting a face of unity.
"We have a leader currently, we haven't got a new caucus yet and we are not discussing leadership at the moment," said David Parker.
"Currently" and "at the moment" are hardly a vote of confidence.
Asked if he was confident he had the full confidence of the party, Hipkins said: "Look I'm the Labour leader and as I indicated that's not even something we are going to contemplate properly until we've got a final result."
Kieran McAnulty is often floated as an heir. But he said he had no interest on Tuesday.
Labour tore itself apart during its last turn on the Opposition benches.
Andrew Little pieced them back together and dished some advice to the new lot - keep your cool and keep your humility.
"Politics is a team sport, and so the team must be strong. There are difficult times and challenging times - this is one of them - and there needs to be a good conversation about it. But it's not on the basis of kind of ripping each other apart."
The reflecting will take some time, even if losing was an inevitability.
Hipkins said on Tuesday: "Look you always live in hope right up until the last moment."
Now living in hope, Labour can keep it together
