As counting continued in the Orange by-election on Monday it appeared the Shooters, Fishers and Farmers candidate Phil Donato was well-placed to pull off a stunning upset by ousting the Nationals from what had been one of their safest seats in the state.

Such a scenario would have been laughable when Andrew Gee was returned for his second term as Orange MP less than two years ago but, as they say, a week is a long time in politics.

Anger over the state government’s forced mergers program and ban on greyhound racing [now reversed] saw many rusted-on Nationals voters lose faith in the party they had supported for a lifetime and left the door ajar for an unlikely alliance between SFF and the Labor Party to engineer a political coup.

And while anti-amalgamation protesters are understandably delighted with the result, so far the state government shows no sign of backing down.

A proposed merger between Bathurst and Oberon remains on hold pending the results of a Woollahra court appeal but Local Government Minister Paul Toole has indicated the government is determined to push ahead.

And even if Mr Donato does get across the line in Orange, which appears likely, he will be just one more voice in Macquarie Street and will carry no real power to stop the mergers.

For the moment, though, the SFF’s strange alliance with Labor looks to have claimed one vicitim in Orange and will claim another on Tuesday morning when Troy Grant steps down as leader of the Nationals.

But the challenge for protesters who remain resolute in their desire to defeat the mergers will be to maintain the rage for more than two years until the next state elections in March 2019.

That’s when they’ll get the chance to make real changes to the make-up of the government and Marj Armstrong, the face and voice of the Oberon anti-amalgamation group, has no doubt the long wait will not quell their anger.

“I can tell you 100 years would not be enough to stop Marj Armstrong,” she told the Western Advocate on Monday.

If a week’s a long time in politics then the next two years could be a lifetime.