It’s all over. The marathon programme of hustings, that is. 

After 12 two-hour sessions over six weeks, Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak will face no more questions from party members – some adoring, some stroppy.

That’s 24 hours of speeches, interrogation, cheers and the occasional heckle that some Tory MPs fear have damaged the party so badly with blue-on-blue attacks that they’ve handed Labour a 13-point lead in some opinion polls.

The leadership roadshow that began in Leeds in late July and reached its grand finale at a packed and noisy Wembley Arena is over. Voting closes at 5pm on Friday and the new leader will be crowned at a ceremony in central London next Monday lunchtime.

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Here, it must be said, there was less of the acrimony and fewer barbs than at previous hustings.

There was a mood, it seemed, that now was the time for the Tories to end the bitterness and bad blood and come together once a new leader is elected.

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Rishi Sunak was magnanimous about Liz Truss, describing her as a “fantastic foreign secretary” and a “proud and compassionate Conservative”.

Liz Truss wasn’t quite so complimentary about her opponent, however, and a promised cordial handshake at the end of the evening and the completion of the hustings process never materialised.

They did appear on stage together briefly, but stood awkwardly side by side and appeared to avoid eye contact.

The evening here began with Sir Iain Duncan Smith introducing Ms Truss. No surprise there. Then, in an unexpected moment, it was Michael Gove – a late backer of the former chancellor – who introduced Mr Sunak.

The weekend before last, Mr Gove broke his silence on the leadership campaign in a Times article in which he slammed Ms Truss’s economic policy as “a holiday from reality”.

He was less vitriolic here and also sprang a surprise by heaping glowing praise on Boris Johnson.

Surprising, after what the outgoing prime minister’s supporters would claim has been serial disloyalty towards Mr Johnson by Mr Gove going back to 2016, when he sabotaged his Vote Leave ally’s leadership bid.

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Mr Gove also urged the party to unite behind whoever wins. Some Gove critics in the party might think that’s a bit rich coming from him.

Is Mr Gove planning an exit from Westminster? The Lib Dems are certainly gearing up for a by-election in his Surrey Heath constituency and he’d surely be tempted by the editorship of The Times if it was offered.

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As for juicy news nuggets at this hustings finale, Ms Truss said she was prepared to look at abolishing mandatory speed limits on smart motorways.

Perhaps surprisingly, she didn’t vow to put the brakes on a proposed switch from British-built Jaguars to German Audis for senior ministers.

Ms Truss also pledged no new taxes when host Nick Ferrari raised the George HW Bush slogan, “Read my lips, no new taxes”, while Mr Sunak said he was proud of introducing a windfall tax on energy companies.

Ms Truss ruled out energy rationing, which is being threatened in some European countries, but Mr Sunak didn’t.

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In this hall, Mr Sunak was well ahead of Ms Truss in noisy, enthusiastic support.

Have the pollsters, bookies and pundits got it wrong, then? Sunak supporters claimed after the hustings ended that as many as a third of Tory members live in London and the south east.

This audience was younger and more ethnically diverse than some of those in the English shires. Metropolitan? Certainly.

Read more: Who is proposing what to tackle soaring energy bills?

Nick Ferrari made much of the fact that the hustings were at Wembley, home of English football, and wondered if Mr Sunak, the underdog, was going to make a comeback in the 90th minute.

It would be an enormous upset if he did. But Mr Sunak gave a strong performance here, fighting for every vote until the very end.

But unless there is to be a shock result next Monday, his spirited effort here – and the noisy support from many inside the Wembley Arena – have probably come too late.

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