It took until the very end of Monday night's Q&A for the panel to get to the crux of recent national debate. Tony Abbott: Yes or No?

"I think he's a tit," was the five-word summation from Miriam Margolyes, the call-a-spade-a-spade actress whose response to the audience question was the shortest, but by far the most memorable, of those offered by the panel as host Tony Jones passed the matter around for consideration.

Prime ministerial colleague and supporter Josh Frydenberg, who wisely noted that "I'm in a minority here", waxed lyrical about his boss' decency and qualities as a father, husband and upstanding member of his local community.

This drew the retort from Mamamia editor-in-chief Jamila Rizvi that if this was all he had to offer, the PM should go back to his local electorate and hand over to someone a little more inspiring. Labor's Andrew Leigh passed up the chance to offer his one-word summation, losing the plot in a rambling, partisan reply that Jones was forced to curtail; Trisha Jha of the Centre for Independent Studies tag-teamed with Margolyes, declaring: "The tit is a lovely bird."