Known for his tough stance on border closures during the COVID-19 pandemic and legal fights with mining magnate Clive Palmer, WA's 30th Premier Mark McGowan's popularity skyrocketed in recent years.
Riding on the back of thumping election wins in 2017 and 2021, Mr McGowan oversaw a 25 per cent swing towards Labor over the two campaigns.
Earlier this month Mr McGowan handed down his third WA budget as treasurer, announcing yet another bumper surplus for the state.
So his resignation on Monday came as a shock for many, with his career in politics spanning for three decades.
Start in politics
Mr McGowan has previously claimed his entry into politics was inspired by former Labor prime minister Bob Hawke.
Three years after moving to WA from New South Wales as a naval officer, he became a councillor for the City of Rockingham and in 1996 he was elected to WA's Legislative Assembly.
In 2001, he was made Parliamentary Secretary to then Premier Geoff Gallop and later became a cabinet minister in both the Gallop and Carpenter governments.
By 2012, Mr McGowan had become WA Labor's leader, but was defeated in an election the following year.
He once told the ABC he was "too ambitious too early on".
"You have to bide your time in political life, it is marathon not a sprint," he said.
Extraordinary COVID approval level
Mr McGowan swept to power in 2017, winning a landslide over a Liberal Party led by long-time premier Colin Barnett.
He won the largest majority government in the state's history at the time — a feat he would eclipse four years later.
Throughout 2020, McGowan led Western Australia's response to the COVID-19 pandemic, during which he reached a record-breaking approval rating for an Australian premier of 91 per cent.
The 55-year-old was re-elected for a second term in 2021 in an extraordinary landslide, winning 53 of the 59 seats in the state's lower house.
Mr McGowan said his centrist approach had helped him achieve the historic victory.
"That is what you have got to do in political life, you have got to appeal to everyone," he said.
'Ordinary' early life
Mr McGowan was born to a wool classer father Dennis and public school teacher Mary in regional New South Wales in 1967.
While previously describing them as "very ordinary", he had thanked them for teaching him the importance of compassion and hard work.
After studying arts and law at the University of Queensland, Mr McGowan had sought to join the Air Force to become a pilot.
But after being ruled ineligible because of his eyesight, he instead opted to join the Royal Australian Navy, ultimately heading west to become a naval lawyer at the Garden Island naval base.
"When I drove across the Nullarbor in my Corolla in June 1991 to begin my posting … I never imagined I would one day become the Premier of Western Australia," he said during his resignation speech on Monday.
McGowan met his wife Sarah shortly after and the pair settled in the working-class south coastal suburb of Rockingham
McGowan's life outside work
McGowan has always labelled himself as a family man.
He once told the ABC he did not have enough time for hobbies, so he used his free time to play with his three children or walk the dog.
During an interview with the ABC prior to the 2017 election, his media adviser prompted him to list a hobby.
"Camping, you like camping," she said.
"I like camping, there you go, I haven't been for a while but if I get the chance I like to go," Mr McGowan responded.
Mr McGowan was awarded the Governor General's Commendation for Bravery in 1997 after rescuing an unconscious driver from a burning car two years earlier.
