Image caption Lib Dem leader Tim Farron was first to leap from the platform, but who won the debate?

At the end of the debate, some of the audience I spoke to were clearly pretty fed up that Theresa May hadn't turned up.

In contrast, they were pleased that Jeremy Corbyn had shown his face. For him, that decision seems to have been a tactical win. If elections really are a game, he took the points today.

But whether his performance will have the same impact on a wider audience, particularly undecided voters, is a different matter.

In the spin room tonight where the press were watching and senior politicians were trying to claim victory for their competitor, it didn't feel like a wake or a celebration for any party in particular.

None of the participants achieved a big breakthrough moment.

But nor, crucially, did any of them have a cringing disaster.

By polling day, tonight's event may be remembered more for the day that Mrs May didn't show, than anything that was actually said on the platform.