COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — Sri Lanka’s political and economic crisis offered a peculiar tableau Sunday after a day of high drama: The protesters were everywhere, cooking in the prime minister’s garden and even lounging in the president’s bedroom while the leaders were nowhere to be seen.

With President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and the prime minister Ranil Wickremesinge both in hiding after indicating they would resign, it was not clear who was running the country. But it mattered little to the thousands who have flooded into the capital city, Colombo, since Saturday: For months they had felt they were on their own anyway as they queued up for hours — often in vain — for fuel and cooking gas, pared down their meals and scrambled for lifesaving medicine.

Opposition leaders clamored to decipher Mr. Rajapaksa’s intentions.

Would he actually quit on Wednesday, as officials have said, or was his silence a sign that he was gauging his options for a protracted fight? Discussions on who might succeed him were also taking shape, with the speaker of the Parliament viewed as the likely choice as interim president.

But it is clear that whoever takes the reins of government will be walking into a crisis, analysts said, inheriting a crashed economy with no easy solutions and a public that is exhausted and furious.

On Sunday, however, the protesters were busy savoring the apparent victory of being on the brink of bringing down a powerful political dynasty that has ruled the country for much of the past two decades.