"We just lost the initiative" concedes the commanding officer ominously in Black Hawk Down when one of his helicopters crashes in rebel-held territory.

When Malcolm Turnbull emerged empty-handed from extended talks with Bill Shorten on Wednesday, that same sense of reversal was faintly discernible.

Direct negotiations between the Prime Minister and the alternative prime minister are relatively rare. Why would a government leader, with all the advantages attaching to office, invite his usurper to the stage, to operate as if equal?

It is a mark of the uniqueness of this situation that such a meeting was deemed necessary. Doubtless, it was undertaken with the utmost reluctance.