Theresa May left Number 10 after David Cameron’s final Cabinet yesterday knowing the next time she returns will be as prime minister.
In “emotional” scenes, she led tributes with George Osborne to the outgoing Tory leader before four rounds of banging on the table, a traditional Westminster alternative to applause.
Mr Cameron will take his final Prime Minister’s Questions in the Commons today before heading to Buckingham Palace to offer his resignation to the Queen.
At what was his 215th Cabinet meeting, he is understood to have expressed his “honour and pleasure” at being able to serve for six years.
He also described Mrs May as the “right person to lead the country wisely through the difficult times ahead”.
As removal vans arrived in Downing Street, Scottish Tory Leader Ruth Davidson said Mr Cameron had told her he intended to stick around on the back benches.
The Edinburgh Central MSP, who had a sit down with both Mr Cameron and Mrs May yesterday, said he had already booked his office on the parliamentary estate.
Meanwhile, Mrs May visited Conservative head office for the first time as Tory leader.
She urged staff to “work together, to deliver on Brexit, to build a country that works for everyone, and to truly unite our party and our country”.
She also told party officials she was aiming to “win big” in the 2020 general election.
The remark was a further indication she is determined to resist calls from the Opposition and some within her own party for a snap poll.
Constitutionally, she is entitled to take up where Mr Cameron leaves off, provided she can continue to command a Commons majority.
Under the Fixed-term Parliaments Act, the next election is not due to take place for another four years, unless the government loses a vote of no confidence or there is a vote by MPs with a two-thirds majority in favour of an early election.
Mrs May, who was coronated after Andrea Leadsom withdrew from the Tory leadership race, is expected to get to work appointing her Cabinet over the next few days.
Having presented herself as the unity candidate, she is likely to offer senior posts to both leading Brexiteers and Remainers.
Prominent Vote Leave campaigner Chris Grayling, who managed her campaign, is likely to be rewarded and could be seen as the ideal person to oversee negotiations for the UK’s EU departure.
Mrs Leadsom, currently energy minister, is also tipped for a role, but Mr Osborne is unlikely to stay on as chancellor, with speculation mounting he could swap places with Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond.