Australians will cast their vote today to decide if Scott Morrison and his Coalition or if Anthony Albanese and Labor will lead the nation for the next three years.
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison and opposition leader Anthony Albanese during the first leaders' debate of the 2022 federal election campaign in Brisbane last month. Photo: AFP
Labor, which has spent almost a decade in opposition, arrives at election day feeling it has the best chance to form majority government.
The Coalition concedes its electoral path to a fourth term in office is narrow but still possible.
The Australian Electoral Commission is forecasting half of all votes will have already been cast before today, up from 40 percent in 2019.
Morrison and Albanese spent the last day of the campaign making their final pitch to voters.
For the prime minister, it was warning voters not to change government, to stick with the party that led Australia through the Covid-19 pandemic.
"We're turning the corner and we're getting the pandemic behind us. We can't take the risk of turning back now," Morrison said.
The opposition leader urged voters that the only way to improve their standard of living would be to change the government.
"There's three more years of the same, or there is myself, who wants to bring the country together," Albanese said.
Irrespective of who wins, the next government will have to contend with soaring inflation, real wages going backwards, a budget with close to a trillion dollars in debt, a war in Eastern Europe and a more assertive China in the Pacific.
Anthony Albanese (L) met with former Australian prime minister Julia Gillard at a cafe in Adelaide yesterday. Photo: AFP
The path to victory
Labor started the six-week campaign ahead in the polls, with the weight of expectation on Albanese's shoulders.
The polls, both public and internal, have tightened but the opposition retains a slight advantage.
The Coalition started the election notionally with 76 seats - the slimmest margin to govern in majority.
Labor, which notionally has 69 seats, needs a net gain of seven seats to form majority government. A net gain of four seats would get the ALP ahead of the Coalition.
Both sides expect the Liberal seats of Reid, in Sydney, Boothby, in Adelaide, and Swan, in Perth, to fall to Labor.
The opposition also hopes to pick up extra seats in Western Australia, northern Tasmania, south-east Queensland and affluent suburbs in Sydney and Melbourne.
The Coalition's most likely prospect is the New South Wales south coast seat of Gilmore, with hopes in Corangamite, outside Geelong in Victoria, and in Northern Territory.
Senior sources within the Liberal Party remain hopeful it can make inroads into safer Labor seats in outer suburban electorates, like Blair in Queensland and McEwen in Victoria.
Complicating the path to 76 for the major parties is the threat of teal independents, many of whom are posing a serious threat to moderate Liberals in what were once safe seats.
People queue outside a pre-polling centre as they yesterday voted early in Melbourne. Photo: AFP
Possible voting delays
The final day of campaigning began with a change in voting rules to allow more people with Covid-19 to cast their ballot by phone.
The Australian Electoral Commissioner has warned that could mean people would face lengthy delays voting on the phone.
Party sources have told the ABC that polling suggests women are backing Labor at a greater proportion than men, with the opposite for the Coalition.
Albanese seized on that and recruited former prime minister Julia Gillard to make a rare political appearance on the campaign trail.
He spent the day in Sydney, Adelaide, Launceston and Melbourne.
Morrison spent the bulk of the day visiting seats in Perth and was joined by his wife, Jenny, who has been highly visible on the campaign trail.
Morrison and Albanese have both faced highs and lows throughout the election.
The opposition leader's day one gaffe, where he was unable to state the unemployment rate, dominated the first week of the campaign.
A week in isolation after contracting Covid-19 allowed Labor the chance to reset its campaign.
The prime minister, having faced months of criticisms about his leadership - both in and outside his party - wanted an election on the economy and national security.
He got both but not how he wanted, with China signing a security pact with Solomon Islands and a mid-campaign interest rate hike.
Both leaders will start election day in Melbourne before returning to Sydney to vote and for evening events.
- ABC