The alert came out at 9:15am Monday.
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It was only the third piece of correspondence from the Prime Minister's press office that morning. The first had been an invitation to Christmas drinks later in the week, the second had announced the new High Commissioner to Canada.
But the 9:15am alert heralded a press conference in the Prime Minister's courtyard.
It came off the back of a weekus horribilis for Tony Abbott and his team: the messy outcry over cuts to the ABC, the even messier snafu over whether the government was ditching the GP co-payment and the Victorian state election that made the Denis Napthine-led Liberal effort a one-term wonder.
Just after 9.30am, the Prime Minister emerged from his office.
He wore a grimace as he cut to the chase, announcing a government backdown on defence pay.
Having ticked that off, he acknowledged last week was "a bit ragged for the government".
"I read with great interest some of the assessment that some of you offered of the government's performance over the weekend," he said.
"I'd like, if I may, to take some of those head on."
And so, after offering a brief pitch as to why he thought his first year in government had been a good one (the carbon and mining taxes are gone, the boats are stopping, the roads are being built), he threw himself at the mercy of the Canberra press gallery.
"The floor is yours. I will try and go round the circle and give everyone a go."
And for the next 46 minutes, he did, taking some 20 questions in all.
Is this what they call crazy brave?
According to Abbott's former boss, John Hewson, the strategy behind the marathon effort was to "try to draw a line in the sand" after his "shocker" week in Parliament last week.
Indeed, it was reminiscent of the press conference that Julia Gillard gave on the AWU matter and on leadership tensions, where she came out, acknowledged there was an issue and tried to tackle it head on. An embattled John Howard staged a similar performance in 2001.
This way, Abbott - like Gillard and Howard - can later say that he has dealt with thorny questions and encourage people to talk about something else.
Kevin Rudd's former political strategist, Bruce Hawker, agrees Monday morning's mega effort was an attempt to shake things up.
"You can see why he was trying to create a circuit breaker today. Pressure was clearly building up around his performance as Prime Minister, the Victorian election, the budget that was going nowhere," Mr Hawker said.
"He needed ... an opportunity to let the pressure out."
But will this lead to a lasting change in prime ministerial strategy?
Hawker doubts it, arguing that a regular press conference event could become a liability if for some reason, in the busy prime ministerial diary it does not happen. He also argues that Abbott has a tendency to veer dangerously off script.
Hewson also cautions that Monday's press conference will only buy Abbott "a little bit of time".
It won't act as a true circuit breaker, he says, unless there is a significant strategic shift that accompanies it.
The former Liberal leader also notes that when the press gallery only get 15 minutes notice first thing on a Monday morning, one has to be cautious when thinking about just how bold Abbott's effort really was.
