With bated breath, many political commentators waited for an upset. Would a shock result shake the Labour party? Critical articles and interviews had been lined up, about the future of Labour under Jeremy Corbyn, after a predicted narrow, pyrrhic victory for his party or even a surprise Ukip win in the Oldham West and Royton byelection. Even the relatively supportive Daily Mirror had assumed the worst in its print edition, with an overnight article headlined “Dark night of the polls for Jeremy”.

So, yes, they did get an upset. But it certainly wasn’t the one they were expecting. Labour won the first byelection of Corbyn’s leadership with an increased 62% share of the vote. Second-placed Ukip, who spent the month-long campaign being talked up, received just 23%. Oldham gave Labour a big win.

When you look at the facts and not the fevered speculation, you can see Labour had a strong local candidate in Jim McMahon. It also ran a well-organised campaign that gathered support from all wings of the party.

Let’s be clear: Jeremy Corbyn and our party are not out of the woods yet. It’s still far from clear whether Corbyn can successfully reach out to many of Labour’s traditional, working-class support base as well as to the liberal-left he is assumed to be more at home with politically. Oldham was a good start and should give us all hope, but there’s still so much more to do.

The underestimation of Corbyn by the media in this byelection is, however, a running theme.

His original candidature in June was viewed as a joke, his victory an absurd impossibility. I even remember a BBC reporter interviewing him after the launch of his leadership economic manifesto and asking, as he laughed out loud, if Corbyn thought he could actually win? Yet he did, with the biggest mandate of any leader in Labour’s history. Our party’s membership has now doubled since the general election, much of it down to Corbyn’s reinvigoration of the grassroots and inspiring new people.

Since his historic victory on 12 September, many “experts” thought he wouldn’t be able to form a shadow cabinet or have a successful party conference. Instead, Corbyn appointed an inclusive administration with talent from across the party and had a successful week in Brighton, with a well-received speech, change of style and policies.

The establishment said George Osborne, hailed as the brains behind the Conservative government, would run rings around Labour. Instead, Corbyn and his team have won significant U-turns on cuts to tax credits and policing, forcing Osborne to backtrack on his failed austerity mantra.

Clearly Corbyn’s tenure has not been without its stumbles – whether failing to sing the national anthem, or John McDonnell reading from Mao’s Little Red Book. But considering where Corbyn’s brand of politics was just six months ago, where it finds itself now, after a sweeping byelection victory, is little short of amazing.

Even on Syria – though there were divisions – given a free vote, the overwhelming majority of the shadow cabinet and of Labour MPs voted with their leader to oppose airstrikes.

Clearly we must do more to get our message across and to point out the ludicrous and often preposterous predictions made about us, and to counter the hostility of those who disagree with our leader’s political vision. Ultimately the Oldham result may be a signal that they can’t hold us down so easily. By underestimating Corbyn, they may be underestimating our country’s desire for a different future.