As yet another political coup unfolded in Canberra, it looked like Sunrise's elaborate around-the-world trip had blown-up in their face.

While the breakfast show sat on a plane some 17,000 kilometres away, Today rivals Lisa Wilkinson and Karl Stefanovic hit the Hume Highway and raced to Canberra to broadcast from Parliament House by Tuesday morning.

Both programs are locked in a fierce ratings battle, spurring Sunrise to make the unprecedented move of broadcasting from five cities around the world in five days.

Today retaliated by announcing a national tour as part of a wider over-the-top Australiana campaign complete with inflatable kangaroos and akubra hats.

On Tuesday morning, the first day of the 'Turnbull era', the two broadcast locations could not have looked more different.

As Karl and Lisa proudly stood on the Parliament House lawn, the Sunrise team were beamed in from the River Thames in London.

And despite ill-timed talk of yorkshire puddings and a nine-hour time difference, the Sunrise team didn't miss a beat.

It was also Today that struggled with a malfunctioning set as the marquee Karl and Lisa were sitting under collapsed on their heads live on-air.

The sparring breakfast programs were actually hard to tell apart despite Karl's constant proclamations that they were, in fact, in Canberra.

Both shows featured rigorous political analysis, as well as interviews with a stricken-looking Foreign Minister Julie Bishop.

There were roving reporters from each network at Bondi asking Mr Turnbull's Wentworth electorate what they thought of the coup, as well as the normal cash giveaway hallmarks of breakfast television.

Despite a slow start to the morning, Sunrise also managed to broadcast a full 30-minutes of coverage without any commercial breaks.

Unfortunately, there were still pre-arranged travel-related segments to attend to, making for awkward post-spill television as co-host Natalie Barr pondered the big questions such as whether or not to pop half or all of a sleeping pill.

Weather presenter Edwina Bartholomew had also been sent to York, and as Australia's 28th prime minister licked his wounds, the Seven team joked about yorkshire puddings and fossilised viking poo.

And while 17,000 kilometres and nine hours separated them, the verdicts from Kochie and Karl on yet another leadership change were equally brutal.

"It's a joke," Koch said after calling Australia's new prime minister "self centred".

Perhaps the biggest lashing of them all was from Stefanovic, who launched into a scathing monologue about what an "embarrassment" Australian leadership had become.

"Have we, the people, become irrelevant?" he asked.

One thing is for sure: Mr Turnbull, once hailed a messiah, now has his work cut out for him.