Today's conference at Devonshire Recreation Club will kick off at 4 p.m. as Progressive Labour Party members tackle a host of party matters before turning their attention to the event everyone's waiting for.

If the last leadership challenge is anything to go by, it'll be around 9 p.m. before the election process even starts.

Dale Butler, Paula Cox and Terry Lister will each have the chance to impress the crowd with a ten-minute speech and some predict audience members will call for a question-and-answer session to put all three on the spot.

If that happens, and the contenders feel it's been forced upon them against their wishes, it's possible at least one of them could just walk away from the microphone.

The estimated 166 voters — delegates from the branches, MPs and party executive members — will then take part in a secret ballot.

The count process should take around an hour, depending on how close the vote is and how many questions rival camps raise over the validity of the delegates.

A minimum of 50 percent of the vote plus one is required for victory.

The timing is anyone's guess, but some in the PLP say we can expect a new leader to be announced by about 10 p.m.