30 August 2016, the 45th Parliament opens with a cast of thrilled but apprehensive new MPs and an unpredictable new Senate. Annabel takes a trip down to the basement to explore the hidden engine-room of the building and meets the woman who could throw Australian democracy into disarray simply by stopping deliveries of coffee and toilet paper.

Annabel investigates the peculiar pitfalls of a workplace where everything comes unstuck if 76 people can't successfully sprint to a designated point within four minutes. She visits the Prime Minister, and his various enforcers. Downstairs, art curator Justine van Mourik reveals something deeply unnerving about the coat of arms.

A behind-the-scenes look at just how much plotting, planning and rehearsal goes into the brutal piece of political performance theatre that is Question Time in the House of Representatives.

Annabel steps into the intoxicating world of the Senate, presided over by Senate President Stephen Parry (a former cop and undertaker) and his Clerk Rosemary Laing, an expert in 17th century British poetry.

Annabel finds her way into the building's Members-only dining room, to hear a startling confession from former PM Tony Abbott. Nick Xenophon does something very strange with some plates.

The last week of the 2016 Parliament arrives, full of Christmas parties and knotty legislative business which the politicians have left to the last minute to fix. A puzzled group of farmers learn more than they ever wanted to know about the way laws are really made. Security faces challenges as protesters infiltrate the building. Labor backbencher Anne Aly and Senator Derryn Hinch find that life in politics is not easy.