Malcolm Turnbull’s official prime ministerial portrait by Jude Rae unveiled

All of Turnbull’s former chiefs of staff were there, as was his long-serving private secretary Sally Cray and former ministerial secretary Martin Parkinson.

Sitting in the front row were three members of Turnbull’s praetorian guard: Julie Bishop, Christopher Pyne and George Brandis, moderate types who form an increasingly threatened breed in today’s Liberal Party. “I must say we are not universally appreciated within the coalition,” Turnbull joked. “But we were still universally admired among ourselves.”

Opposition Leader Sussan Ley arrived alongside environment spokeswoman Angie Bell and home affairs spokesman Jonathon Duniam. Liberal moderates Andrew Bragg, Maria Kovacic and Andrew McLachlan joined a number of teal independents, but there were noticeably few existing Coalition MPs in attendance.

Turnbull noted that seven years on from the end of his premiership, in some respects little had changed. The passionate climate change campaigner said dropping the Liberals’ net zero target to 2050 showed “reality denial” was still alive on the Conservative side.

“When I became Prime Minister, I would tell anyone who would listen ad nauseam that energy policy should be determined by engineering and economics, not ideology and stupidity. That’s kind of common sense, isn’t it?” he said, looking pointedly at Ley.

Kevin Rudd warned of the threat of war in the Indo-Pacific when he unveiled his official portrait two years ago. Turnbull came with his own dire message. Democracy, he said, is “under siege around the world and under siege here.”

“We must be absolutely determined to defend this…we cannot assume any of the democratic privileges and responsibilities that we have,” he said.

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Then it was time for the big reveal (or, to borrow a classic Turnbull phrase, the “revealing kimono” moment). Turnbull’s portrait, by Sydney artist Jude Rae, was painted five times in his studio in Redfern. It was the second time since the Federation that a female artist painted an official portrait of the prime minister.

The painting, which places Turnbull against a lemon yellow background, is less detailed than Rudd’s, with a cameo from his cat Louie. It shows Turnbull wearing an orange tie, animated, biting his lower lip, hands outstretched. When you look at him, you can see that he is talking about an interesting topic; perhaps the AUKUS submarine agreement or the Snowy Hydro 2.0 project, which he believes will be vindicated by history.

After the ceremony, Turnbull held an impromptu press conference, as he did when he was prime minister. He suggested the coalition was stuck in a “miasma” that appeased Sky After Dark bigots rather than appealing to mainstream Australians. “I guess they lost their way,” he sighed. “It’s really sad.”

On the news of the day – environmental reforms – he said: “The coalition could have played an active role, but they chose not to. I can tell you that the few supporters they have left in the business world will be appalled.”