Malcolm Turnbull can stand the heat.

His status on the campaigning Left of the Liberal Party was a concern for many traditionalists when he was elected leader, and a cause for excitement among others.

But in this campaign, we’ve seen a quieter and more consultative Prime Minister, and ABC political journalist Annabel Crabb predicts we can expect more of the same if he’s victorious on Saturday.

“He’s really different,” the Kitchen Cabinet presenter, who welcomes the PM back on the show tomorrow after cooking with Bill Shorten tonight, told news.com.au.

“He’s become a lot less egocentric. Before it was ‘my way or the highway’, compared to now when he’s got a lot more people around him. When you’re in a cabinet government you delegate, and in his case that’s demonstrably true.”

She notes that many former supporters have found the man his grandkids call “Baba” underwhelming during this drawn-out campaign.

The new, ego-free Liberal leader.Source:ABC

“A lot of people don’t like that,” she said. “They’re disappointed he’s not championing a cause, gay marriage or the Republic.

“All these changes have up and downsides, it’s much more a priority keeping the party together rather than being a figurehead for various causes.”

Mr Turnbull has repeatedly returned to his themes of a strong and stable government offering jobs and growth in economically uncertain times.

It’s a familiar message in a low-key campaign, and that’s exactly the way the Liberal leader wants it, says Crabb.

“The length of the campaign caused a few predictions there would be room for a meltdown,” she said. “It’s been remarkable for its lack of remarkableness.

“The policy of the Turnbull camp throughout has been ‘don’t kill the candidate’ and I think they haven’t.”

While the campaign has been a “necessary evil” for the Prime Minister, the one person in Australia who’s really loved it has been Bill Shorten, she says.

With the rest of the country “on its knees, begging for mercy,” the Labor leader “was exclaiming several times on and off camera that he loves this stuff.”

Annabel Crabb, Bill Shorten and his British bulldogs Theodore and Matilda.Source:ABC

And it’s believable. It may be punishment for others, but the former union chief sees this eight-week campaign as “his reward for three years as Opposition Leader, the worst job in Australia.”

It’s been a challenging time for Mr Shorten trying to rock the Coalition’s boat. “It’s hard when you’re not the incumbent if you’re trying to upset the balance,” says Crabb. “You’ve got to introduce controversy, fear, these things that make people change government.

“That’s why Bill Shorten has introduced this idea late in the campaign of Medicare being privatised. He’s trying to get people interested.”

But the party-led, passata-making PM is looking set to win by around 10 seats going into election day, and he’s the Turnbull that Crabb expects to see into the future if he wins the vote. “One of the big lessons Australia has learnt is you can’t campaign one way and do something different in government,” she says. That was what destroyed the likes of Julia Gillard and Kevin Rudd.

If the Prime Minister wants to avoid another coup and achieve his stated aim of remaining the steady hand guiding the ship all the way to 2019, we’re set to see a lot more of Turnbull version 2.0.

emma.reynolds@news.com.au

Annabel Crabb visits Bill Shorten at tonight at 8 and Malcolm Turnbull at the same time tomorrow in two Kitchen Cabinet specials on ABC.