The first sign of the Liberals' chances for Tuesday's election may have been the room where they decided to hold the post-election party.

The Alder Room at the Yukon Inn has a maximum capacity of 50 people.

Throughout last night, the room rarely neared capacity.

Before 9 p.m., members of the media attending the event outnumbered party supporters.

By the end of the night, the party would plummet out of official Opposition status, lose its leader as well as other longtime incumbents, and finish with only two seats to its name, down from five in the 2006 election.

For about half an hour after the polls closed, volunteers struggled to find a way to access results. Eventually, a laptop was found and the small group huddled around the screen watching results come in online.

Originally, things were looking up.

One of the first seats to be announced was Vuntut Gwitchin Liberal incumbent Darius Elias, who defeated his only opponent, Yukon Party candidate Garry Njootli.

It was nearly an hour before supporters would have something else to cheer for.

Leader Arthur Mitchell was defeated by more than 100 votes in Copperbelt North by 26-year-old Yukon Party policy adviser Currie Dixon.

Eric Fairclough, who has held the riding of Mayo-Tatchun since 1996, and Don Inverarity, of Porter Creek South, also lost their seats.

The only other candidate to win a seat was Sandy Silver. The high school teacher beat out current MLA and cabinet minister Steve Nordick in Klondike by 12 per cent of the vote.

The mood in the room was somber, often with audible gasps and groans when experienced politicians fell.

"Politics sometimes teaches hard lessons, and I'm sure we'll all be stronger for having learned them,” Mitchell told the crowd in his concession speech before announcing his resignation as party leader

"I leave here with my head held high, and I want every one of you to do the same.”

The party will hold a convention to select a new leader, Mitchell said.

"It has been the greatest honour of my life to be our leader for the last six years,” he said, his voice breaking, "to work with all of you, to work on creating policy, creating platforms, to hold government accountable.”

Mitchell, who took over the party's leadership from former premier Pat Duncan, said he takes responsibility for the party's dramatic downfall.

"To the people who ran with me in this election, this is not any fault of theirs that we didn't win. At the end of the day, it's up to the leader to get us there and I couldn't quite do it this time. I wish I could have,” he said.

The dethroned leader told supporters he still believes strongly in the party and what it stands for.

"We as Liberals will honour the trust that people put in us, and we will move forward. We've been down before and we've risen back up and we will do so again,” he said.

"I know Sandy and Darius will do their best to keep that flame alive and to encourage new people to come forward and be involved.”

Mitchell went on to thank former party leaders, staff, volunteers and his longtime wife, Nancy, for their support.

"At times like this, I know what's really important, and what's important to me is that I have the love of the woman I've loved all my life, the woman that I intend to love for the rest of my life,” he said.

One volunteer to get special attention from the party leader was Krysta Meekins.

A long-time supporter and former member of the young Liberals, Meekins took a month off of work to volunteer at party headquarters as a graphic designer.

"I don't know how anyone could ever have a more talented more dedicated, devoted ... positive person on our team,” Mitchell said.

Earlier in the evening, Meekins sat quietly at a table with other supporters.

"I'm disappointed,” she said at the time. "Especially for Arthur; I don't think he deserved to lose his seat after serving the Yukon well for six years.”

While talking to the media following the speech, Mitchell said it's difficult for any party to defeat a sitting government when the economy is strong.

He said his party made a number of tough decisions leading up to the election.

"We made the decision a couple years ago to support the Peel watershed plan, and I know that was divisive for many Yukoners. I don't regret that for a moment.”

Mitchell also took time to congratulate new opposition leader, the NDP's Liz Hanson.

"I really do hope that Ms. Hanson and her caucus as well as the remaining Liberals ... will make sure the government doesn't forget the important value of the Peel and doesn't see their victory tonight as a victory for development at all cost.”

The outgoing leader also said he hopes the new government will focus on the current housing crisis and homelessness.

Ousted MLA Don Inverarity, who lost his Porter Creek South seat by just 14 votes to the Yukon Party's Mike Nixon, appeared resigned.

"It is what it is,” he said while thanking and comforting supporters at the end of the night. "It was close all the way around and close through the whole thing. Now you move on.”

Inverarity said he plans to take some time off and spend it with his family. His daughter is expecting a baby in December.

Liberal campaign chairperson Mike Travill said voters were "looking for one extreme or the other” and didn't respond to the Liberals' centrist message.

Travill, who has been with the party for seven years, said he believed the Liberals played an important role in this election by bringing the other two parties closer to the middle.

"We got the Yukon Party talking about sobering centres and the NDP talking about taxes.”

The next five years will be about rebuilding, he said.

Travill said he believed the final DataPath Systems poll released last Friday, which suggested the race for premier was between the Yukon Party and the NDP, may have swayed some left-leaning voters to swing their support to the dippers.

The Liberals have long questioned the polling company's methodology, which the company has defended as professional.

Candidate Patrick Singh said running for office was a learning experience.

The first-time candidate came in third in the Whitehorse Centre riding with 12.5 per cent of the vote. The seat was won convincingly by NDP Leader Liz Hanson.

"It was interesting to get involved in the political process and meet all the people,” he said.

As for if he would run again, Singh said that's not something he is thinking about at the moment.

"It's maybe something I would consider, I'm not sure,” he said.

In terms for what went wrong for the party this year, Singh smiled and shrugged.

"If I knew the answer to that question, we would be having a different conversation,” he said, chuckling.

"I just don't know what happened,” said supporter Laura Crowther, shaking her head as the night neared an end.

The second-generation Liberal supporter, was one of the few people to stay at the event from the very beginning.

"I don't know what to tell you. It's definitely something people will be thinking about for a while.”

By 10:30 p.m., the room was again nearing empty. Many candidates and supporters who had not gone home for the night could be found across the hall at the bar.