And while that attitude may not be convincing or even welcome to some voters - in whose hands a hung parliament may yet make a mockery of their posturing - a Q&A battle of the minnows versus the majors had one benefit: it produced enough biff and banter to suggest the election eulogies might be premature.

Just 24 hours after Malcolm Turnbull and Bill Shorten squared off in a debate that had observers prodding the nation for signs of life, Q&A performed a resuscitation: there was an audible human noise from the audience that suggested funeral plans for the 2016 campaign could temporarily be put on hold.

It was either an "Oooh" or an "Aaah" - the former according to an online transcript of the program, but sounding more like the latter if you played back the video - and it was a noise likely echoed in many living rooms around the nation. So what inspired this indication of a viable public pulse?

A bit of face-to-face, up-close-and-personal political screw-turning, is what.

And while the to-and-fro between Labor's Terri Butler and Greens leader Richard Di Natale - with Liberal MP Steve Ciobo and independents Jacqui Lambie and Nick Xenophon also joining the fray - was not always edifying, it delivered a frisson of political tension exceeding anything provided in Sunday's stupefying interpretive dance by the major party leaders.

It was Di Natale's debate lament - that a "snooze-fest" involving the "Coles and Woolies of politics" had excluded leaders such as himself - that prompted Butler to swing into action. She had clearly been prepped to make one thing clear: Coalition claims to the contrary, the Labor Party would not get back into bed with the Greens.

Swipe left.

With the Greens leader seated conveniently in just that position, Butler summoned cool condescension in delivering her message.

"Richard, you were not at the debate because you are not vying to become the prime minister. You are not at the debate because you do not have the capacity to become the prime minister after this federal election. There's a choice."

"Aaah" (or possibly "Oooh") responded some in the audience - whatever it was, she'd got their attention, prompting Butler to go back for seconds.

"He's in the Senate for a start. And he's got one member of the House of Representatives out of 150. And that's why you weren't at the debate."

Di Natale didn't bite back, and may well have been pleased with the whack just delivered.

If he - along with Xenophon and Lambie-  needed any help making the case that the major parties unite on nothing more than their mutual desire to kill off the little guys, help was at hand from Butler and Ciobo. Di Natale put it this way: "Nothing brings you closer together than the threat from outside." Xenophon: "It is a duopoly … I believe in bringing people together. I just didn't realise it was the Liberal and Labor Party".

When Ciobo took aim in reply he didn't mince words. Di Natale and Xenophon were "arrogant" in the face of the bond the major parties shared with voters. This line Ciobo delivered with a straight face, and as he lectured Di Natale, there was his nominal chief enemy Butler chiming in to make it an anti-Di Natale duet: "You have one member of the House of Representatives."

Ciobo, in perfect harmony:  "Mate, you can sit there and be arrogant about it and say well that's because they're just not that smart, but I mean the reality is, mate, the reason they get behind the majors is because of those common values."

This was but the first memorable delivery of the word "mate" for the night. Lambie had the word in her arsenal, too, deployed in a discussion of corporate tax cuts and small business. "Multinationals are not small businesses, mate," she told Ciobo, with the flair of one who knows exactly how to transform that four-letter word into the most lethal term of affection in the Australian vernacular.

It was that kind of night: plenty of shade to go round, but it was Butler who came armed with the biggest umbrella. While her banter with Di Natale came with a hint of love-hate Hepburn-and-Tracy chemistry, at times she was content simply to open fire. Given Di Natale's recent problems with claims of under-paid au pairs, he was ripe for a sledge when a penalty rates question came up. The Labor MP had one loaded.

"I'm an employer myself," Butler began, innocently enough. "I have a nanny at home. I pay her penalty rates when she works overtime. I don't know if anyone else on this panel does that." It was quite the perfect shot, capped off by a glance in Di Natale's direction that confirmed exactly what she meant and sparked a laugh from the audience.

It was not all potshots and pranks - there was plenty of policy to go on with - but in TV terms Q&A also delivered more entertainment and voter engagement in five minutes than we got in a full hour on Sunday. There is surely a lesson in the contrast. For all that the major parties insist debates should only include the big two leaders, there is at least as much opportunity as there is risk in opening the floor to other contenders.

The more, the merrier - and no need to wonder if the country has fallen asleep while you're about it.