Nothing really separated the quality of their seasons.
But Ablett did enough against Carlton in round 18 to snag one vote and push a nose ahead of Selwood as they raced to the finish.
Selwood led, but everyone knew Ablett had three votes in his back pocket - four goals in the final round against Greater Western Sydney would be enough.
It was fitting, in its way, as somehow Ablett always does just enough to elevate himself above the pack. The leaderboard showed that.
Just behind Ablett were the game's best midfielders: Selwood, Dane Swan, Patrick Dangerfield, Daniel Hannebery, Scott Pendlebury, Tom Rockliff, Trent Cotchin, Kieren Jack and Jobe Watson.
They are mostly superstars, yet Ablett sits – just – above them, redefining what we think of as great when it comes to footballers.
In this era, there is Ablett then there are the rest.
And he's doing it at the game's second newest club, Gold Coast, an organisation that has being in the AFL for just three years.
Like Peter Moore, Greg Williams and Chris Judd before him, Ablett's second medal was won at a different club from his first.
Ablett's journey towards that second medal was tougher, however, than most. He went from a premiership contender in Geelong to an easy-beat at the Suns, but he just lifted his standard and kept going.
Reflecting his consistency are seven successive years of 20 or more Brownlow votes, and in a team that has now won just 14 of 66 games in the past three seasons that is remarkable.
With 197 career votes, he deserves to be the 14th player with two or more Brownlow medals.
His game against Collingwood in round 17 was the startling individual performance of the year.
The champion finished that game with 49 disposals, two goals, 10 clearances and six inside 50s.
Post-game, in the shell-shocked Collingwood rooms, Scott Pendlebury, who polled 21 votes himself, spoke to AFL.com.au: "He is just so damaging every time he gets the ball. He makes the right decision probably nine and a half times out of 10.
"To have a game like that tonight probably shows why he is the best player in the competition by the length of the straight."
On Brownlow night the length of that straight was reduced to one vote.
On the night in June when Geelong played Gold Coast under lights Ablett polled two votes. Jimmy Bartel – a Brownlow medallist too – got the three.
Selwood, the eventual runner-up, did not poll a vote.
That night Ablett also kicked what is likely to be the goal of the year, a present to his hometown.
Post-game it moved the opposition coach, Chris Scott, the man who appointed Selwood as captain, to say: "The people in front of us stood up and bowed. I felt like joining in.
"If he's not the best player I've ever seen, he's pretty close."
In public Ablett is a man of few words, saving his most creative expression for the field.
When asked about himself he defers to team, as quickly as he flicks a handball and runs past to receive.
Or on a more personal level, his thanks go to God, his gifts just that and nothing else.
Having been at the Suns he now knows Brownlow night has more stories to tell than just the Ablett story.
There is Selwood, the fierce, respected competitor who according to statistics won more free kicks this year than any player since 1985.
He's probably lucky he didn't have a Brownlow around his neck or the umpires in the crowd would have reached for the whistles.
But he's much more than an umpire's favourite. He's a crowd favourite too, because he is tough, uncompromising and fair.
There was a bearded bloke named Swan who has now polled over 20 votes in four successive Brownlows, starting his run of recognition on this night in 2007 when dressed in a superman suit far away from the count.
He has made the motto 'If you can't be a footballer, you should at least look like one' confusing for everyone.
Then there was the suspended Steve Johnson, who could never win it but deserved at least one night in the top five as recognition of his talents.
At the other end of the table there were quirks.
Jason Blake took 209 games to poll his first Brownlow vote. When it happened last season cheers rose from his teammates' table. In his 219th and final match, played in the last game of the year, the umpires saw fit to award him a vote for the second time in his career. No-one blinked.
Adelaide's Tom Lynch kicked 10 goals against Greater Western Sydney and received just two votes, with teammate Patrick Dangerfield getting the three votes instead.
If anyone ever argues it is not a midfielder's medal, they don't know what they are talking about.
However Lynch can take heart from an entrenched football tale. Peter Hudson, the former Hawk who finished second in the 1971 Brownlow medal as a full-forward, once kicked 18 goals when playing in Tasmania. His teammate, the rover Danny Ling, got the three votes from the umpires that day.
The 2013 Coleman medallist, another Hawk Jarryd Roughead, polled 13 votes to be the highest polling forward. North Melbourne's Drew Petrie and Geelong's Harry Taylor were the only other key position players in double figures with 10 votes.
Ruckmen are all but gone from Brownlow contention, with the Lions' Matthew Leuenberger leading that category with eight votes in front of North Melbourne's Todd Goldstein with seven. All-Australian ruckman Will Minson, who does find voice on the field, polled just two votes.
Tom Liberatore, the son of 1990 Brownlow medallist Tony Liberatore, polled 14 votes in his third season to mark himself as a future medallist.
His teammate Brett Goodes also managed a vote in his first senior game at the age of 28. If he'd stopped then he could have claimed a better vote getting average per game than his dual Brownlow medallist brother, Adam.
Collingwood's Steele Sidebottom also managed to poll five one votes and a two vote to reach seven votes in the most gruelling fashion.
But they were sideshows to the main event, a night that started at a cracking pace.
After one round these names were on the board: Ablett, Selwood, Watson, Chris Judd, Liberatore and some Grand Final opponents, Fremantle's Nathan Fyfe, David Mundy, Michael Barlow and Hawthorn's Sam Mitchell.
One would finish as hard as he started.
Gold Coast: G.Ablett, 3 votes.
The winner of the 2013 Brownlow Medal: Gary Ablett.
