Just as it was finally gathering steam, Anthony Albanese's election campaign has been brought to a shuddering halt.
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Not by a gaffe or scandal, but by COVID-19.
The infectious disease, which has dominated our lives for more than two years, has been a surprisingly peripheral issue in the federal election campaign thus far.
It means seven days in isolation and seven days off the campaign trail.
So what now?
Let's walk it through.
Firstly, this isn't the worst case scenario for Labor.
Contracting the virus in the final fortnight of the campaign, when the two leaders typically sprint across the country chasing last-minute votes, would have been worse.
Mr Albanese won't be able to physically front press conferences or attend campaign stops for the next week, but he will be able to relay his message via Zoom and social media.
It's far from perfect, but the pandemic has made us more comfortable with remote forms of communication.
Labor is also blessed with media-savvy frontbenchers, such as Jim Chalmers, Richard Marles, Penny Wong and Kristina Keneally, who can be trusted to stay on message in Mr Albanese's absence.
Some observers have questioned why Mr Albanese hasn't made more use of his frontbench, in particular the talented women on it, during the campaign. Now's their chance.
But let's not try and sugarcoat this.
It's bad for Labor, particularly with Prime Minister Scott Morrison having already had his bout of the virus earlier this year.
Mr Albanese's team has been doing all it reasonably could to prevent the leader catching COVID-19 during the campaign.
The press pack covering the Labor leader have to be triple-shot vaccinated, take rapid tests every three days and wear N-95 masks on the bus.
But the protections have not been enough to stop the virus infecting members of the travelling media in recent days.
As such, a sense of inevitability - a case of "when" rather than "if" - has hung over Albanese's campaign in recent days.
The timing, as mentioned, could have been worse.
But it's far from ideal, given Mr Albanese was starting to find his feet following the embarrassing stumbles of the first week of the campaign.
The Labor team was upbeat following Wednesday night's leaders debate.
Mr Albanese was engaged and energised on Thursday morning as he again attacked Mr Morrison's failure to thwart the security pact between China and Solomon Islands.
The Labor leader was bound for Western Australia on Friday, where he hopes to win as many as four seats off the Liberals.
As it happens, Mr Albanese wouldn't have been able to campaign alongside Mark McGowan even if he had made the trip, with the popular premier earlier this week forced into COVID-induced isolation.
For now, Labor's campaign plans are up in the air.
But they can't remain up there for long.
There's an election to be won on May 21.
Dan Jervis-Bardy
Dan covers federal politics from Parliament House, with a special focus on climate policy and the NDIS. He has previously reported on ACT politics and urban affairs since joining the Canberra Times in 2018.
Dan covers federal politics from Parliament House, with a special focus on climate policy and the NDIS. He has previously reported on ACT politics and urban affairs since joining the Canberra Times in 2018.
