At 3.15pm on the Monday before last, Tony Abbott was sitting in the Prime Ministerial Suite preparing to meet a group of girl guides.

Such occasions were a regular feature of sitting weeks in parliament and among the many public duties of the leader. Normally on a sitting day after Question Time concludes, there would be school groups and community groups waiting in the PM’s courtyard for photos.

That fateful Monday had been shaping up to be no different to any other day.

That was until Julie Bishop came into his office before Question Time and put him on notice. And then in waltzes Malcolm Turnbull.

It was a conversation that lasted several minutes, Abbott recalls, without revealing the precise words he used to respond.

“Our friend was in the office giving me his assessment of the government and telling me what he was about to do,” the now former PM told The Saturday Telegraph in his first formal interview since the coup.

“It was a conversation with Malcolm that had to be a little more than 30 seconds. Nevertheless (the girl guides) had to wait five or 10 minutes.

“No doubt he went off to get on the phones and prepare his statement … and I went out into the courtyard and met with girl guides and school groups.

“Whatever might have been going through my mind, the fact is you still have a job to do. Every moment you are in that job you have a job to do and it’s important to do it with dignity and grace.”

media_camera PM Tony Abbott meeting Girls Guides after Question Time in the PM Courtyard at Parliament House in Canberra.

Abbott could be forgiven for thinking that the gods have been unkind to him, both before and after his fall.

In exile he will reside in a modest backbenchers’ office on the ground floor of Parliament House, which he said had belonged to Warren Entsch, his nemesis on the gay marriage bill.

Worse still, he will mark those days left in office knowing that right next door is the office now occupied by the banished former Speaker and once close friend Bronwyn Bishop, who many partially blame for his downfall.

‘Budgie buddies forever!!’

Nevertheless, his new office is buzzing with activity. Staff come in and out. One stops to talk about how resilient Abbott has been and how despite his own obvious upset, had spent the past week playing agony aunt to his staff.

Paintings are still packed in bubble wrapper in the reception area waiting to be hung. Two didgeridoos stand in the corner next to a lamp table. Staff move things around and try to cram the things accumulated over a lifetime in politics. Behind a chair is a framed shirt signed by his mates following the 2013 election victory.

“Budgie buddies forever!!” one inscription from a fellow club member reads.

type_quote_start “Obviously I know, having been a practitioner of politics in this country, that the top job has never been less secure … it is obvious” type_quote_end

In his own personal office, a photo of him and an SAS team from Swanbourne in WA stands on a mantelpiece next to a framed award from the Australian Federal Police, which arrived on Thursday. It thanked him for his service and his tenancy at the police college in Barton, where he chose to stay when in Canberra. And behind his desk, peering over his left shoulder, is a dark stone bust of Winston Churchill, as if to say “I warned you’’.

It would be fair to say that Abbott is no longer in shock. Rather he lives in a world of temporary disbelief.

“Obviously I know, having been a practitioner of politics in this country, that the top job has never been less secure … it is obvious,” he told The Saturday Telegraph.

“But certainly I never thought having watched the Labor Party implode that the Coalition would want to venture own the same path. My judgment turned out to be wrong.”

His judgment on policy, however, clearly wasn’t wrong.

media_camera Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott arrives surrounded by fellow MPs for a leadership ballot of the Liberal National Party at Parliament House in Canberra, Monday, Sept. 14. Picture: AAP

Turnbull has vowed to keep almost all of them — even acknowledging Abbott’s achievements as being “formidable”.

On this score alone, history will be obliged to judge Abbott accordingly.

“In a policy sense there is very little departure,” Abbott says. “Border protection policy the same, national security policy the same, economic policy the same … even same-sex marriage policy the same, and climate change policy the same. In fact the rhetoric is the same.

“You can always say ‘what about the bloody Prince Philip knighthood’ and obviously that was a blunder and you can say ‘well things could have been better marketed’ but of course there is always a sense of things could be better marketed.

“But if you look at the substance of policies and the circumstances, I think it has all been done very well.

“The policy hasn’t changed and indeed the rhetoric hasn’t changed. Again, it is not about me but obviously these are questions that people may ponder.”

Ever since his “near-death experience” in February, Abbott knew that Turnbull would eventually come after him. There was a sense of this from day one in government.

But Abbott was convinced that only a lunatic would try it on in the week before the Canning by-election.

There is little doubt among Abbott’s supporters that Turnbull acted when he did for one reason only. The internal polling on Canning was showing a swing of between 5 and 6 per cent — the normal swing against a government in a by-election. Indeed, the postal votes now record that the swing, while Abbott was still leader, was 5.9 per cent.

The ordinary vote, registered under the new leader Turnbull, was 6.8 per cent.

So much for the Abbott factor.

media_camera PM Tony Abbott meeting Girls Guides after Question Time in the PM Courtyard at Parliament House in Canberra.

It is now clear that Turnbull’s camp knew that a good result in Canning would have sucked the momentum out of his campaign to become leader. Abbott says that now is not the time for political scores to be settled. No doubt that day will come.

type_quote_start “We have now had five prime ministers in five years...” type_quote_end

But he is adamant that the record at least be set, in terms of his achievements and his concern registered for the future of the Australian polity.

“We have now had five prime ministers in five years,” he says. “The rest of the world is a little surprised and shocked at what seems to them like unprecedented instability in a country that has always been a rock of stability. Obviously in the two years I was PM, Australia was a very reliable partner and friend to many countries and I think the steadiness and composure of our conduct abroad lent other leaders to believe there was a steadiness and composure at home.

“But there is no doubt our domestic politics have been utterly febrile certainly for the last five years.”

There are two fundamental issues at stake now for Australia, Abbott believes.

“Issue No.1 is how can governments make the decisions about difficult and necessary reforms if prime ministers are subject to the kind of death by opinion poll which we have seen in recent times,” he says.

“And how can we rebuild public trust in public institutions if the prime ministers they vote for are constantly being changed as a result of party room coups.

“The commentariat have now got the PM they want but the public have lost the PM they vote for … this is a real issue for our country.

“Given that our country needs to be capable of tough decisions sustained over significant period of time, what are the implications for our future of this revolving door prime ministership?

“One of the reasons why I very much hope the new Prime Minister and his government will succeed is that the last thing we need is six prime ministers in six years, which is what will happen if the incumbent loses.”

As for Abbott’s future, he is sure of one thing.

“Look, I’m not going to make any hard and fast decisions this side of Christmas,” he says.

“I think I’m far too young to retire.

“Obviously I still think I have quite a lot to contribute in public life.’’

Originally published as Tony and me: Abbott on life after PM