St George’s Square in the capital was silent for most of the evening as Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi gave his last speech in Parliament.
Cordoned off by iron barriers and with a hefty police presence, the silence was broken at 8pm when the fountains started dancing to the tune of composer Charles Camilleri’s Il-Maltija.
At the time Dr Gonzi was still speaking about the Budget measures and defending his Government’s track record.
At 9pm the music in the square started playing again as Nationalist backbencher Franco Debono was explaining his vote against the Budget inside Parliament.
As journalists paced up and down outside Parliament’s main door, drinking coffee and making small talk, the square remained empty.
A small group of people gathered outside a cafe, metres away in Republic Street, chatting away ahead of the do-or-die vote that was to be taken later on.
The anticipation of Dr Debono voting against the Budget and bringing down the Government prompted very high security arrangements.
All approaches to the Palace were cordoned off by the police and inside Parliament non-MPs were frisked by soldiers.
Throughout the day Labour was urging its supporters to remain calm and stay at home.
And for most of the evening St George’s Square remained empty except for the odd tourist trying to understand what was happening.
But as the Budget vote approached, the corridor left open by the barricades at the back of the square started to fill with a small crowd of supporters from the two major political parties.
As Speaker Michael Frendo explained the voting procedure, supporters huddled in groups listening on their smartphones and small radios.
After the vote, Dr Debono left Parliament through a side door on Archbishop Street and darted off in his car followed by a police escort.
The square’s silence was broken again when Opposition leader Joseph Muscat came out of the main entrance accompanied by Labour MPs. He was greeted with a rapturous applause and chants of “Joseph, Joseph”.
A few minutes later the other half of the crowd erupted into applause as Nationalist MPs walked out together from the building.
Dr Gonzi, accompanied by his new deputy Simon Busuttil and PN general secretary Paul Borg Olivier, walked out some time later.
With a smile he shook hands with the supporters who clapped and shouted “Gonzi, Gonzi”.
It was the last act in Parliament for an administration that has laboured through five years of backbench unrest. But nobody clapped when the parliamentary clerks walked out. They looked relieved that a long day had come to an end.