The only other time South Australian Premier Peter Malinauskas has been so consumed by a secret plot, he says, was 12 years ago when he developed an elaborate plan to propose to his wife, Annabel West. "It involved all these different moving parts and a lot had to go right in a very specific sequence of events and there were a number of people that were tasked with specific duties and they had to execute them at exactly the right moment and it all had to be kept completely secret," Mr Malinauskas told a crowd of business and political leaders — including the PM and the federal Opposition Leader — at a News Corp-hosted lunch on Friday. The closer the day came, the more anxious the-then-shoppies-union leader became. "I particularly remember having to feign interest in a whole number of conversations I was having with people at the time, when in actual fact there was only one thing on my mind and that was whether or not this plan would come to fruition," he said. It was over a decade before Mr Malinauskas felt the same way, while formulating a plan that culminated in Wednesday's remarkable events that forced the Whyalla steelworks into administration. "Once again we had an elaborate plan, lots of moving parts, any number of things could have gone wrong," he said. "Only a few people knew about it. If anyone had spoken out of turn the whole thing could have been up-ended." It was so distracting, the usual smooth-talking Premier veered from his usual calculated messaging when dealing with a talk-back caller concerned about plans for the redevelopment of the North Adelaide golf course. "I've got to express my confessions to that North Adelaide resident because I wanted to sound sympathetic on the radio to their concerns but in actual fact the truth was, nothing was further from my mind," he said. The Premier has been at the centre of other political plots According to this telling, the two major intrigues of the Premier's career and personal life were his marriage proposal and his move to force the steelworks out of British billionaire Sanjeev Gupta's hands. But there was one other the Premier didn't mention — the political coup that saw Labor premier Mike Rann rolled, and replaced with Jay Weatherill. At just 30, and years before he would be elected to Parliament, Mr Malinauskas was one of two right-faction heavyweights who confronted Mr Rann and told him it was time to go. While that scheme didn't rate a mention in the list of those that had preoccupied the Premier to the point of distraction, it was perhaps an early sign of a capacity for machination and intrigue. A leak could have easily up-ended the Whyalla plan The Premier's description of the days leading up to the forced administration of the steelworks paints a picture of how and why it played out the way it did. It was a long time in the planning, but when it came, the government acted swiftly and without warning. State Opposition Leader Vincent Tarzia was briefed on the plan at 10:00am. By 10:45, Energy and Mining Minister Tom Koutsantonis was in Parliament's lower house, introducing, and quickly passing, the extraordinary legislation. While that happened, the Premier was busy briefing upper house MPs, and not long after, the bill had passed that house too. Then the Premier and senior ministers left parliament, walked down North Terrace and hand delivered it to the Governor. Throughout all of this, not a word was said in parliament or outside of it that would actually explain what exactly these newly passed laws were — only that it was an amendment to Whyalla Steelworks Act (1958). In this time, the ABC understands, legal papers were being served on the steelworks' owner, Mr Gupta, informing him he was no longer in control of Whyalla's steelworks and mines. It was now in the hands of administrators KordaMentha. No time to act It meant the usual processes of Parliament — a place of transparency, deliberation and debate — were by-passed. Despite that, the opposition and crossbench got on board. failure to do so would have likely been politically disastrous. "That shows first and foremost that we are all on team South Australia and we certainly did all we could to support the sovereign steelmaking capability in this state," Mr Tarzia said. "We've backed the government in on this bill because it has protected the state's interest." An unusual tactic, but justifiable University of Adelaide Emeritus Professor Clem Macintyre said the parliamentary process, while unusual, may be justifiable. "When the government and opposition are in clear agreement and the democratic intentions of the state are applied, you can justify legislation being fast-tracked," he said. So far, agreement with that seems to be almost unanimous — the state government has acted in the best interests of Whyalla, the steelworks and the broader economy. But Whyalla has heralded a saviour before — the hope is this time it's real.