Everybody knew it would come down to one or two votes and the anti-agreement parties in the Assembly adopted stern measures to ensure that David Trimble would not be re-elected First Minister.
Members were instructed to be at Stormont at least two hours in advance of the crucial vote. The Northern Ireland Unionist Party leader, Cedric Wilson, warned his team to ensure that flat tyres, traffic accidents or over-sleeping did not jeopardise their arrival.
"We know the Northern Ireland Office will do its utmost to have David Trimble re-elected, so we have placed our members on full alert. It has been a case of two alarm clocks and skipping the cornflakes", said Mr Wilson.
So eager was his colleague, Paddy Roche, not to miss the vote that he had cancelled a lecture tour to the US. The DUP's Ian Paisley jnr said it had been a "logistical nightmare" ensuring that the party's members turned up on time.
"The DUP decided this vote was so important that we all brought our sleeping bags to room 315, our Stormont office, and spent the night there. We had an evening of line-dancing (which his father has condemned) and Irish language lessons", he joked.
All eyes were on Pauline Armitage and Peter Weir, the two dissident Ulster Unionist members who would decide their leader's fate. Weir was refusing to show his hand. Armitage had said she would oppose Trimble, but the word was that she was weakening.
She was spotted chatting several times to Sir Reg Empey, a close Trimble ally.
Some Assembly members had drifted to the canteen for a coffee or were chatting to colleagues in the corridors when the division bells sounded.
Even the most unfit and overweight were energised. They sped past marble pillars and dashed into lifts like gold-medal-winning athletes. The guessing was over. Weir and Armitage both voted against Trimble. There was jubilation in the anti-agreement ranks.
In the canteen, the DUP were hoping there would be Christmas Assembly elections. Press officer StClair McAllister said he had dozens of Santa suits ready for party candidates to don on yuletide canvasses. "Instead of 'No! No! No!' it will be 'Ho! Ho! Ho!', " he said.