By all accounts it was a low-key local government election campaign - but the results were far from dull.
And no doubt the seat tallies, percentage shares and vote transfers will be painstakingly dissected by parties for weeks to come as they decide their next moves.
Sinn Féin was the runaway winner. It became the largest party at council level for the first time as predicted, but 144 seats and almost 31% of first-preference votes surpassed all expectations.
Read more: NI council election results 2023: Find out who is elected in your area
Not only did the party gain swathes of ground from nationalist rivals the SDLP, they also picked up seats in traditionally unionist strongholds such as Ballymena and Coleraine.
A positive campaign fronted by deputy leader Michelle O'Neill and built around a "working for all" message proved to be a successful formula.
The conundrum for Sinn Féin is that the party has achieved its best ever result with a campaign that avoided mentioning its main goal of achieving a united Ireland.
Retaining and convincing voters about Irish unity remains the long-term challenge, especially if Stormont is restored and power-sharing becomes more stable.
Alliance as expected became the third-largest party, mirroring their rise in last year's Stormont Assembly election.
But the Alliance surge has stalled. While their 13.3% vote share is up on the last council election in 2019, it is marginally down compared to 12 months ago.
Once again the centre-ground party's successes were mostly to the east, with a breakthrough in nationalist-leaning councils west of the Bann still a work in progress.
A newly elected councillor in Enniskillen offset disappointment in Derry and Strabane where the party lost both their seats just weeks after opening a new office.
For the UUP and SDLP it was another story of gradual decline, shedding almost a third of their seats.
Smaller parties - the Greens, People Before Profit and PUP - were also squeezed as Northern Ireland increasingly becomes a three-party state.
A period in opposition following a revival of devolved government could be the only means of reversing this trajectory.
The rise of Sinn Féin and Alliance poses many questions for unionism, particularly the DUP.
It fell into second place but remained steady on 122 seats and received a 23% vote share - on a par with 2019 and up on last year's election.
The DUP's Stormont boycott strategy in opposition to Brexit's Northern Ireland Protocol has succeeded in avoiding a splintering of the unionist vote.
But as a consequence of mothballing devolved government for more than a year, many have become disillusioned, with voter turnout down in mainly unionist areas.
It has also simply galvanised nationalism and driven more voters towards rivals Sinn Féin.
Turnout rose in mainly nationalist areas, with voters angered by the DUP blocking Stormont and delaying Sinn Féin taking up the post of First Minister.
The DUP knows it must return to devolution, but the challenge is changing course after boxing itself into a corner for so long over Brexit.
Some sort of legislation to reassure its grassroots of Northern Ireland's place within the UK could provide the answer. More money for Stormont from the UK Government to address budget problems also seems certain.
At council level, nationalist parties now outpoll unionist parties. Sinn Féin, SDLP and Aontú received 40.5%, whereas the DUP, UUP and TUV had 38.1%.
But with opinion polls consistently showing no majority for Irish unity, there will not be a border poll anytime soon.
In this election a majority of voters sent only one message to Stormont politicians - get back to work.
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