In a two-hour televised event on Tuesday night, Prabowo Subianto, Ganjar Pranowo and Anies Baswedan went head to head on the debate stage for the first time as they competed for public support to succeed President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo in the nation’s highest office.

The debate, the first of five before voting day in February of next year, came at a critical time in the race, with Ganjar and Anies neck-and-neck for second place – and a spot in a possible runoff against frontrunner Prabowo.

Prabowo’s campaign team quickly began painting him as the victor of the often confrontational debate on the national stage, claiming he had come out on top “without attacking his opponents”.

"We venture to claim that tonight's debate was won by Prabowo, all in terms of word choice, language choice and in terms of witty, tactical responses to ideas and concepts,” said Nusron Wahid, the secretary of Prabowo’s campaign team, on Tuesday night.

Another campaign team member, Eddy Soeparno, said Prabowo was “the most direct and firm” in committing to ensuring the continuity of Jokowi’s programs.

Prabowo has sought to portray himself as the natural successor to the President, whose approval ratings remain high as the end of his second and final term approaches.