Kevin Rudd turns up the feisty factor for public forum with Tony Abbott IT WAS a feisty Kevin Rudd who took on the man who wants his job at the people's forum at the Brisbane Broncos clubhouse in Brisbane tonight. With less than three weeks before voters head to the polls, it was a night Mr Rudd could not afford to lose. Rudd and Abbott face off at forum Voters still undecided after forum Twitter calls forum for Rudd Unlike the previous debate where he turned up with notes after travelling from Tasmania, Mr Rudd was leaving little to chance. After this morning's media events, Mr Rudd holed himself up for five hours in his Brisbane office with his most trusted advisers to prepare. The swot session with his political director, Bruce Hawker, who has been shadowing his boss the last two days, and his longstanding adviser Patrick Gorman appeared to have paid off with the narky Kevin that growled at reporters earlier replaced with a more controlled version of himself. Another of Mr Rudd's trusted confidantes, Senator John Faulkner, also flew in to Brisbane to support his colleague. Mr Faulkner was sighted at the Stamford Plaza on Tuesday. Mr Rudd, who said earlier his debate preparation involved talking to "real people," is also understood to have spoken with former journalist and Labor MP Maxine McKew. The pair had been speaking regularly throughout the campaign. A Labor source said he worked with Mr Rudd on preparing for the debate for several hours. When 6.30pm arrived, Mr Rudd stood quietly with his hands clasped appearing ready for a fight. He looked straight ahead, avoiding Mr Abbott's gaze. Both leaders' opening addresses began on a positive note. In his opening statement, Mr Rudd spoke of being passionate about Australia's future, of wanting to develop a world-class health system and building a national broadband network. Mr Abbott said he agreed with Mr Rudd - he was also all about Australia's future. However, the pleasantries were quick to end with the debate almost becoming childlike at times. "No detail at all," he said of Mr Abbott's failure to release the Coalition's costings. "The biggest deficit we have got right now is a trust deficit," Mr Abbott fired back. Mr Abbott also stole Mr Rudd's "cuts, cuts, cuts" mantra that has been levelled at the Coalition over the past few days, saying he wanted to be "Mr Build Build Build" so Australians had "jobs, jobs, jobs." Mr Rudd accused Mr Abbott of having amnesia when the Opposition Leader denied he had ever cut public services when in government. Mr Abbott accused his attacker of "telling fibs." However, voters seated in the gallery were divided over whether there was a victor. Tony Abbott faces questions from the public at the forum. Brisbane resident Kahlia Litzow was undecided who she would vote for before watching the debate, and is still undecided. However, she enjoyed the two leaders taking each other on. "I liked seeing them challenged," she said. To me, Kevin was more entertaining. But the answers I found were still light and fluffy. Richard Adams. Brisbane manager Richard Adams describes himself as a swinging voter. He said he found himself agreeing more with Mr Abbott, except on the issue of gay marriage. "On gay marriage, I'm more with Kevin, but Tony Abbott won the debate for me," he said. The strain of the election campaign appears to be taking its toll on the prime minister. At a media conference to announce new cancer nurse co-ordinators, he lashed out at the Coalition, the media, became defensive about Labor's policies and entertained the prospect of Tony Abbott becoming prime minister.