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Call it Tony Abbott's Mrs Dalloway moment.
History has not recorded whether our Prime Minister Tony Abbott has read the classic Virginia Woolf novel, which wrings maximum drama out of the eponymous host's preparations for the party of her life. But Tony would surely sympathise.
He might not have to personally oversee the floral arrangements, but unlike Mrs Dalloway, Vladimir Putin was coming to his 'do. And to coin a diplomatic euphemism, his table manners are terrible.
Fresh off the plane from China and Myanmar, where he resolutely did not attain an eggy face after the US and China struck a historic climate change-deal, and having flown near the international waters where Russian ships lurked, Abbott needed to kick off G20 hosting duties on a high note.
The eyes of the world, and more importantly the domestic populace, were trained on our Prime Minister for his premier pre-G20 foray. There was little doubt they would be judgmental.
Enter British Prime Minister David Cameron, who flew into Sydney at 4am. In a prime ministerial version of the worn Brit backpacker tradition - get off the plane and head straight to Bondi - Cameron was whisked to the harbour for a Tony Tour.
The pair, in nearly matching blue shirts, unbuttoned at the neck to emphasise the bonhomie of the encounter, promenaded down Macquarie Street, site of the city's most comforting British colonial buildings, and thence to Circular Quay, the sweet spot nestled between Opera House and Harbour Bridge.
Let the Americans and the Chinese collude on their precious climate change. Let the Russians play games with their boats. Here was a true ally - a conservative Prime Minister, also born in the Motherland. A blue-tie wearer and a fellow Oxford graduate who had just announced anti-foreign fighters laws similar to Abbott's own.
Sure, Cameron might have declined the chance to jog or cycle with our Prime Minister (not very outdoorsy, the Poms), but he was, thankfully, a man with a healthy interest in building things.
High-vis vests or photo ops with Diggers were sadly out of the question, so Abbott came up with the next best thing. A business breakfast celebrating infrastructure projects, located at Barangaroo, where construction cranes punctuated the sun-soaked blue of the western harbour.
"I was going to start the day with a run with Tony Abbott, but I thought he might go a bit fast," Cameron told the gathered business-folk.
Tony grinned supremely.
"Then he talked about a bicycle ride, but I thought that might involve wearing more lycra than is consistent with seeking re-election. So instead we hit on this idea of an infrastructure breakfast."
It was delightfully chummy. Why, even Cameron's political slogans echoed his host's. Post-election, Abbott liked to say Australia was once more "open for business". And here was Cameron telling the business breakfast that Britain was "back in business", with infrastructure spending nourishing its economic growth.
Next, Abbott took the floor and told some Oxford tales. While travelling on a train during his stint there, Abbott said he was given a box of British Rail matches that wouldn't light.
"They didn't work and I thought, 'God, the only thing in Britain that doesn't strike is the matches!"'
Insulting one's guest is a risky and unusual strategy, but he pulled it off. Everyone laughed gaily.
Onwards to Canberra, where Parliament House put on a full ceremonial welcome and the army band struck up God Save the Queen. Tony looked comforted.
Cameron signed the Parliament House visitors' book and the two posed for a handshake, complete with a full wrist hold, on Abbott's part.
So what if the body language was just a touch emotionally needy?
Abbott has a big party to put on, and as every chatelaine knows, a host is nothing without helpmeets.
