[Ne v], [Ne iii] and [O iv] line luminosity plotted against the continuum luminosity at 5.6 μm. [Ne v] is chosen because of its high ionization potential, limiting the contamination by star formation in the host galaxies. [Ne iii] and [O iv] are chosen as they are strong lines present in all composites, and probe different ionization potentials. Horizontal bars indicate the luminosity range of the objects which contributed to that template. Dashed, dotted and dot–dashed lines are the linear fits to the points. The empirical slope for [Ne v] of 0.69 is very close to the theoretical slope of 0.72 in Fig. 13, and therefore we find no evidence for a ‘disappearing’ NLR as probed by these lines.