The incumbent Prime Minister, Tony Abbott, announced that a meeting of Liberal members of the House and Senate would take place at 9:15 pm AEST on 14 September 2015 for the purpose of a spill motion.

Following the February spill vote, Abbott delivered a speech to the members calling for their support and promised to consult more with backbench MPs.

[5] Michelle Grattan, writing in The Conversation, argued that the "narrow margin" of the vote left Abbott "deeply vulnerable to later destabilisation".

[11] Just days before losing the premiership, he was captured on footage laughing out loud in response to a joke made by minister Peter Dutton about rising sea levels in Pacific island nations.

Both were immediately drawn to the attention of the microphone and cringed, and when later pressed by the media with the footage shown, both refused to confirm or deny what was said.

[13] Under Turnbull the Liberal candidate retained the seat for his party despite having to rely on preferences after suffering a primary and two-party swing.

[18] A meeting in regard to the leadership was held on Sunday 13 September at the home of Dr Peter Hendy, attended by Malcolm Turnbull, Wyatt Roy, Arthur Sinodinos, Mitch Fifield, Mal Brough, James McGrath and Scott Ryan, and Julie Bishop's chief of staff, Murray Hansen.

[19] However, on Monday 14 September, anonymous sources confirmed in the early morning to news companies that Turnbull, then Minister for Communications, was planning to try and oust Tony Abbott.

Abbott brushed off rumours of a leadership spill in the morning,[20] but was unable to secure the verbal support of both Turnbull and Bishop.

[16] The Sydney Morning Herald reports that Abbott offered the job of deputy to Scott Morrison, who turned it down due to the leaks that Joe Hockey would be dumped as Treasurer.

[1] After formally launching his challenge, Abbott held a press conference two hours later at 6:15 pm AEST to confirm that a leadership vote would be happening that evening.

[1][2] Abbott is the shortest-serving Australian Prime Minister since William McMahon[24][25] and aside from Kevin Rudd's second incarnation which lasted for three months in 2013.

At 6:30 pm AEST, Joe Hockey addressed the press, describing Turnbull's claims as unfounded, listing the Government's economic achievements and expressing his loyalty to the Prime Minister.

[26] At around 6:50 pm AEST, Peter Dutton and Mathias Cormann confirmed on Sky News that they would be supporting Abbott in the spill motion.

[27] Christopher Pyne, George Brandis, Mitch Fifield, Marise Payne and Simon Birmingham announced throughout the night that they would support Turnbull.

Turnbull's victory occurred two days shy of the seventh anniversary since his first election as leader on 16 September 2008 when he defeated Brendan Nelson.

Howard, when asked, refused to say where Abbott went wrong, but did state he believed the consistent bad polls, not the media, were ultimately responsible for the spill.

[45][50] A ReachTel poll of 743 residents in Abbott's safe Liberal seat of Warringah, conducted by phone on the evening of 17 December 2015, indicated his electorate wanted him to retire from parliament at the next election.