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They had been accused of having blood on their hands, of being cowboys, of sacrificing the lives of two young Australians at the altar of improved relations with Indonesia. Now, after months of silence, the Australian Federal Police's most senior officers would speak.
Not since Julia Gillard's marathon press conference on the Australian Workers Union slush fund scandal had Canberra seen something like it.
The officers came prepared. They had facts, they had a narrative. They knew how far they would go.
Yes, many Australians are angry with the AFP, Commissioner Andrew Colvin acknowledged. Yes, it's a tragedy that Indonesia executed Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran. And yes, the AFP would probably act differently today.
But there would be no apology, no admission of wrongdoing.
"If there is to be a message out of these executions," Colvin said, "I sincerely hope it is that other young lives are saved by people thinking twice before participating in serious crimes overseas."
Deputy Commissioner Mike Phelan, the officer who approved the transfer of information to Indonesian officials, gave a step-by-step account of what happened a decade ago.
Stocky and with cropped hair, he looked like a retired rugby league player, but sounded like a barrister patiently outlining his case to a jury.
Claims that the AFP reneged on a promise not to let Scott Rush, one of the smugglers, leave Australia after receiving a tip off? "Completely incorrect".
The argument that the AFP, could have arrested the smugglers before they left Australia? "Absolutely false."
"If we'd charged someone with conspiracy at that time, a first-year lawyer would've been able to walk at a first hearing," he said.
It was a measured, clinical performance. Then, suddenly, his eyes grew glassy, his voice pained.
"If anybody thinks that over the last 10 years, I haven't agonised over this decision, then they don't know me," Phelan said.
"I'd been in the job 20 years, I'd run narcotics investigations. I'd seen the misery that drugs causes to tens of thousands of families in this country.
"Yes, I knew full well that by handing over the information and requesting surveillance, if they found them in possession of drugs, they'd take action and expose them to the death penalty.
"I knew that. But I weighed up a number of things in my mind as to what I thought was appropriate and I've agonised over it for 10 years now.
"And every time I look back, I still think it's a difficult decision, but given what I knew at that particular time and what our officers knew, I would take a lot of convincing to make a different decision. It was not easy."
The AFP, silent for so long, now had a human face. "What would I have done," one had to ask, "if it had been my call?"
We make decisions in an instant, but their consequences can follow us forever. Just ask Mike Phelan.
