Lauchlan in the wake of the 2007 election the liberal partyroom met to elect a new leader. Abbott initially nominated for the position but withdrew because he lacked the numbers. Generous estimates gave him 8 votes. Nelson and Turnbull both had mid thirties.
In March 2008 sportsbet gave odds for the liberal leader at the next election. First was Dr Nelson, closely behind him were Turnbull who was barely ahead of Costello. Those three were all fairly short odds at the time, betting on them wasn't really worth it so far out from an election. Around the ten dollar mark I think but I'd have to check were Joe Hockey and Julie Bishop. Equal on $38 was Ian Mcfarlane(nice voice), Andrew Robb (who?) and Tony Abbott.
There is a very good reason for both these things, from the safety of 2008 where people were able to analyse stuff sensible they could tell that Abbott was a polarizing, apparently unstable radical who like Mark Latham and John Hewson before him is completely unelectable from opposition.