By ABC's Barrie Cassidy

Photo: Everything about Kevin Rudd will ignite passions and arguments for years to come. (AAP: Dan Peled)

He might have lost his prime ministership twice, but Kevin Rudd never lost his ability to capture the nation's attention, which makes Bill Shorten the big winner from his resignation, writes Barrie Cassidy.

Kevin Rudd to the end was more capable than anyone else in politics of introducing that element of surprise and owning the moment.

In Canberra, only Anthony Albanese knew that he was about to go into the Parliament and announce his resignation.

His leader, Bill Shorten, was given just 10 minutes to prepare a speech. His closest political confidant, Bruce Hawker, was at a Manuka store signing copies of his new book when the drama unfolded.

A key supporter, Senator Doug Cameron, took a call from ABC News Breakfast asking him to go onto the show in the morning to talk about "Kevin". He hadn't a clue what they were on about.

Another 15 colleagues were preparing to meet at an Indian restaurant at Albanese's invitation, with no idea of the significance of the gathering.

The popular television program, The Bachelor, was trending on Twitter until the Rudd announcement blew it away.

Once again, Rudd was centre stage, with the nation's attention. And once again his words and actions drew a range of emotions within the Labor Party, from sadness, disappointment and anger at one end, through to relief in the centre and sheer delight and satisfaction at the other end.

That is the way he will be remembered; with contradictory emotions and a mixed legacy.

Rudd's great political achievement was to defeat John Howard, a giant of the Liberal Party, at the 2007 election. But he only got that opportunity after undermining successive Labor leaders, Simon Crean, Kim Beazley (twice) and Mark Latham.

He will have a place in history for the apology. But that was essentially a gesture, a belated and important one, but a gesture.

More broadly, he started too many conversations without ending them; raised too many policy ideas without legislating.

Together with the Treasurer, Wayne Swan, he led Australia through the global financial crisis. That should have won him the respect of his colleagues; that should have raised his stocks with the public.

But instead he hit a slump. Leaders have survived slumps before, and many will again.

For Rudd it was different. He was treated differently because he was different: autocratic, exclusive, disrespectful and at times flat-out abusive.

Former Hawke government minister Barry Cohen once said to me: "If Rudd was a better bloke he would still be leader. But he pissed everybody off."

Former staffer James Button once asked of Rudd in a Fairfax article:

Did he reflect on the rages he would fly into when people gave him advice he didn't want, how he would put those people into what his staff called 'the freezer', sometimes not speaking to them for months or more?

Did he reflect on the way he governed in a near permanent state of crisis, how his reluctance to make decisions until the very last moment - coupled with a refusal to take unwelcome advice - led his government into chaos by the middle of 2010?

Button argued that Rudd's "obsessive focus on his health reforms" left the government "utterly unprepared to deal with other issues" like the emissions trading scheme, the Henry tax review and the mining tax.

Everything about Rudd will ignite passions and arguments for years to come.

Anthony Albanese said outside Parliament that Rudd assumed the leadership just before the 2013 election because "he put the party he loved, first".

But others ask how that sits with the leaks in 2010 that destroyed Julia Gillard's chances of leading a majority government.

Senator Doug Cameron asserted on News Breakfast that because Rudd led Labor into the 2013 election, the party's seat haul had a "five in front of it and not a two."

But again others ask where Gillard's standing might have been had it not been for the constant undermining of her leadership.

Undoubtedly, Rudd has good ideas on how to reform the Labor Party, and he alone is responsible for opening up the leadership to the membership.

But at the same time, he burnt some good and decent politicians.

Perhaps Simon Crean, Martin Ferguson and even Stephen Smith were ready to leave the Parliament. But did the political climate around Rudd cause others like Greg Combet, Craig Emerson, Nicola Roxon and Peter Garrett to leave way before their time?

Rudd's departure does finally draw a line under a tumultuous, damaging and chaotic period in Labor Party politics.

It was for the better that he go; just as it was for the better when Bob Hawke, Paul Keating and Julia Gillard left when their run at the top was over.

The single biggest beneficiary will be Bill Shorten. It clears the space around him to carve out his own destiny, free of the media preoccupation with Rudd.

As we saw again on Wednesday night, whenever he chooses, it's all about Kevin.

Barrie Cassidy is the presenter of ABC programs Insiders and Offsiders. View his full profile here.

Kevin Rudd drops bombshells until the last - The Drum (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)