Analysis By Nick Assinder Political Correspondent, BBC News website

The Westminster stages may be over but the long haul for the remaining two Tory leadership candidates now enters a gruelling new phase.

Profile: David Cameron

The "two Davids", Cameron and Davis, now face six weeks of campaigning in hustings around the country as they attempt to persuade 300,000 grassroots Tories they are the man to beat Tony Blair and Gordon Brown.

This contest has already provided some upsets and genuine excitement and there is certain to be more to come between now and the announcement of the new leader, planned for 6 December.

Will the young, untested moderniser, Mr Cameron, prove up to the task of a challenging and protracted campaign which may yet see the gloves come off?

And will the former frontrunner, Mr Davis, show he can woo ordinary party members from the campaign platform - something that does not come naturally to him?

Either way, this is going to be a tough fight with both men determined not to give any ground - and Mr Davis, in particular, facing a real battle to win over Tory party members who, polls suggest, are ready to support Mr Cameron.

Conference speech

Mr Cameron is delighted at his showing in the second ballot of MPs, even though it fell short of the 100 votes some of his more enthusiastic supporters were predicting.

He started off only as a "maybe", with a few claiming he could be the Tories' Tony Blair.

But he won over many with a polished, note-free, conference speech and the way he handled persistent media questions about whether or not he had taken drugs.

Profile: David Davis

Mr Davis, on the other hand, will also be relieved that his vote did not crumble, as some had predicted, although that will be tempered by disappointment at losing his pole position.

Liam Fox, meanwhile, did far better than any were predicting at the start of this campaign, first by seeing off self-proclaimed "big beast" Ken Clarke, then coming just six votes behind Mr Davis.

The bookies have already made Mr Cameron the runaway favourite and Mr Davis undoubtedly faces an uphill struggle.

But suggestions he was ready to throw in the towel and allow a swift coronation of Mr Cameron failed to materialise.

Final round

It is thought ordinary party members would have rebelled at such a move, which many would have seen as an attempt to deny them their democratic rights only recently defended.

There was a definite logic to Mr Davis thinking about standing aside if Mr Cameron had won the support of more than half the Tories 198 MPs.

That would have meant, even if Mr Davis had won the vote of party members, he would have returned to the Commons as a leader who had not commanded the full support of his parliamentary party.

He came dangerously close to that position but, as he had always claimed, he won through to the final round and will now fight it all the way.

And the question now is whether Mr Cameron will indeed glide on to what many see as inevitable victory.

Or will the campaign yet see the political tectonic plates shifting once again.