The reports say the cast left right after the introduction and ate dinner. It appears they had to rush back so they could make it in time for the end of the screening. I was a bit disappointed when I heard this because I had this picture of Jake feeling the reaction of the crowd through some of his best lines. (Especially the one he refers to in the press conference. 
) No matter, he was there for the ovation and felt the outpouring of support.
This surprised me, too, Smiles.
As the opening credits were coming on, I was watching the mezzanine area where Gavin, Jake and the others turned out to be in the end. I
KNOW I watched the theatre staff lead a group of people in to sit in those seats at the very beginning of the film. I was being nosey
as we'd been trying to figure out where Jake might be sitting and it was the most obvious place. The lights were down but the usher walked several people in using a small flashlight, to sit in those very seats at around the time it would have taken for the cast to get from the stage up to that level.
It was too dark to see much of anything except that the group were formally dressed, several (tall!) men, a couple of women, one who was blonde, to sit in those VERY seats. So it just seems odd. If they did go up there at the start, would they have left again, only to come back later? Would they have had other people sitting there instead and switch off later?? These seats were in my corner vision the whole while, but I didn't notice any other movement during the film and I
did cast a sideways glance over there off and on. That is to say, when Jake was OFF the screen and not ON it.
Anyway, just find that curious. At least we know for sure they got the message at the end, how much the film impacted the audience.
