After a long, rousing, increasingly fractious and somewhat uninspiring six-week campaign, polling day has arrived with Australia staring down the possibility of a hung parliament.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
or signup to continue reading
Amid last-ditch pandemic election blitzes across the nation, the self-confessed "bulldozer" Scott Morrison appealed to aspirational young voters in talking up the Coalition's late campaign unlocking super for housing deposits plan, while the self-styled "builder" Anthony Albanese sought the assistance of Julia Gillard in unlocking wavering female votes.
But the surging independent factor remains the big unknown in 2022 despite various polls pointing to the toppling of prominent Morrison government members. The most likely aspect is a delay in the result.
Labor goes into polling day as favourites, but those lead-in voter intention polls have also tightened over the past few days.
"Oh look, it's a mountain to climb. It's a mountain to climb," the Labor leader Anthony Albanese told the ABC, while also admitting he had nothing left in the tank.
Elsewhere, the Prime Minister Scott Morrison pointed out that the polls were wrong last time and rejected the proposition that he was "toast".
"Everybody is so certain before polling day. What I am always certain of is the Australian people and their judgment," he told radio 3AW.
Amid the last minute scrambles on Friday, the leaders made their final pitches to what is left of the undecided voters as they try to secure to govern in their own right.
READ MORE:
The Morrison government is seeking a rare fourth three-year term, while the Albanese Labor opposition is asking Australians to "give us a crack" at creating a better future.
"We've come so far, now is not the time to turn back and risk Labor, but secure opportunities with a strong economy," Mr Morrison said in the marginal Perth electorate of Pearce.
"I don't pretend to be perfect. What I do is accept responsibility. I won't go missing," said Mr Albanese in the marginal Adelaide electorate of Boothby.
An eleventh hour change to voting rules to ensure all Australians isolating with COVID-19 will be allowed to vote is likely to lead to long phone voting queues. That, and expected queueing at in-person polling stations, has electoral officials urging patience.
Postal and pre-poll voting is breaking Australian electoral records with around 4.6 million people having already voted at pre-poll centres.
This will likely have an impact on the speed of the result and so will an expected surge in votes for "teal" independents and minor parties.
All polls point to a hit in the primary vote for the major parties.
"Been so energising seeing people engage most of them for the first time ever in politics," Independent ACT Senate candidate David Pocock said.
"And actually getting excited about how we could actually make politics more about people again and not factions and party lines."
But the Prime Minister said that is a risk Australians should not take, and when it comes to horse-trading, he's not for turning.
"The idea that we would be trading on policies of the government that has kept our economy strong and protected our industries moving forward, I mean, well no," he said.
While post-polling day reality might be different for Mr Morrison, Mr Albanese is in the same boat. He insists he is aiming for majority government as well.
"There's two people running for prime minister, there's three more years of the same, or there's myself, who wants to bring the country together," he said.
A majority government can be formed with 76 seats in the 151-seat lower house. The Labor Party will need to win at least seven more seats, a swing of about 3.5 per cent, than it currently holds to govern in its own right.