There were few fireworks and no knockout punches when the frontrunner candidates vying to be next premier of Ontario faced off in the only televised debate of the election campaign.

Each of the three leaders -- Conservative Premier Ernie Eves, Liberal Leader Dalton McGuinty and NDP Leader Howard Hampton -- claimed victory after Tuesday night's debate. But with few highlights or stumbles, many voters found it hard to decide who was right.

Taking stock of the debate, CTV's Mike Duffy said the lack of standout performances could play to McGuinty's advantage.

"Frankly none of them were superstars. There were no Churchills on the stage Tuesday night. And so at the end of the day, I think the people of Ontario came away saying, 'Hey, why not try a change,'" said Duffy.

Duffy said that despite the fact there were no standout performances, McGuinty might be able to say he came out on top.

"McGuinty didn't make any big mistakes and by not making any big mistakes, I think at the end of the day you'd have to say that he was the winner."

The evening kicked off with a pointed question about the attack-style ads that caught many voters' attention early in the campaign. McGuinty was the first to respond.

"I have been a subject of much of that mudslinging," McGuinty said, referring to an e-mail from Progressive Conservative Party campaign headquarters that had labeled him as an "evil reptilian kitten eater."

"Apparently, I am against farmers, families and even kittens ... I want us to take a different approach."

Eves weighed in quickly, shaking off the suggestion his campaign was built on the use of attack-style ads. People in each party's offices had stooped to the tactic at times, Eves said.

"I agree that personal attacks have absolutely no place in our system,'' he said. But the premier added that such attacks are par for the political course.

"I too have been the subject of attacks, but you know when you're the leader of a party you have to accept those challenges as they come and rise above them.''

When he weighed in, Hampton said politics shouldn't be about "who can afford the most expensive campaign." Instead, Hampton turned to a key NDP policy -- instituting an electoral system based on proportional representation.

It was Hampton's strategy -- of steering the discussion back to his party's core messages -- that characterized much of the evening's debate.

Hampton repeatedly turned his comments to ending privatization of energy and health care, as well as implementing public auto insurance. At the same time, he repeatedly accused the government of costing Ontarians money through its various privatization plans.

Defending eight years of Tory rule, Eves returned time and again to the record of his government and its contrast with the legacy of the NDP and Liberal governments that held power before his.

McGuinty, on the other hand, hammered away at what he called Eves' particular brand of "politics of division," insisting that his party offered a different approach that entails the province "living within its means."

Throughout the evening's forum, the three candidates did their best to present calm, deliberate images to the cameras -- offering few of the verbal fireworks associated with the decisive, winning blow that is sometimes delivered during such events.

As the evening developed, it became clear the main discussion was between McGuinty and Eves -- with Hampton doing his best to interject with his own questions for the two frontrunners.

Hampton was widely praised for his performance during the 1999 leaders' debate. But, his journeyman's turn Tuesday night is unlikely to catapult him to power. The NDP currently trails well behind the Liberals and Conservatives.

Just eight days before Ontarians head to the polls, the debate was considered a crucial opportunity for the candidates to get their message into voters' living rooms during prime time.

But University of Toronto professor Nelson Wiseman told CTV News it may be too late to make a difference in the election results.

The Liberals have the support of 50 per cent of respondents in a poll released by Ipsos-Reid the day before the debate, while the Conservatives trail with 33 per cent.

"I can't recall an election campaign that has turned on the last week, when the lead was so great," Wiseman said. He added that the debate will probably do little to boost Eves' chances.

"The Conservatives are now not fighting to win the election -- they've written it off -- they are fighting to retain their core seats."