If a week is a long time in politics, former prime minister Tony Abbott might have started the federal election campaign thinking eight weeks is an eternity.

In a reminder of just how much things have changed since he was dumped from the top job in September, Mr Abbott used the first day of the campaign to hand out flyers to early-morning commuters in his electorate of Warringah.

Mr Abbott, who three years ago began the election as opposition leader at the centre of a massive travelling media pack, cut a lonely figure at Manly ferry wharf, greeting voters in the rain with just a handful of Liberal Party volunteers.