Australia's Prime Minister Anthony Albanese stands on the cusp of winning a second term in office, though hopes of retaining his majority government hang on a knife-edge.
Peter Dutton is attempting to overcome what observers describe as a chaotic campaign to win enough seats to force Labor "deep" into minority.
Published national opinion polls show Labor on track to form government, but party strategists expect they will need to gain ground to retain a 76-seat majority.
They are bracing for losses in suburban Melbourne and regional New South Wales.
Australia's Prime Minister Anthony Albanese stands on the cusp of winning a second term in office
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Liberal Party leader Peter Dutton
Reuters
Dutton remains adamant he can pull off a surprise win, drawing hope from Scott Morrison's "miracle" 2019 election victory against Bill Shorten.
Senior Coalition campaign sources, however, are downplaying that prospect.
They acknowledge that forcing Labor "deep" into minority is likely the best-case scenario after a tumultuous five-week campaign.
"I think we're seeing a 2019 situation, where you've got a lot of interesting contests playing on the ground," Dutton told ABC's AM.
"I think there'll be some big surprises on election night, because people have had enough."
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Voters queue outside a pre-polling place in the seat of Bennelong, Sydney
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Benson Saulo, the Liberal Party candidate for Macnamara speaks with a voter
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The two leaders made their last pitch to the remaining undecided voters on Friday in a frenetic final day of campaigning.
Albanese made an 11th-hour visit to Dutton's own electorate of Dickson in Brisbane, suggesting Labor believes the opposition leader's seat is winnable.
Almost 40 per cent of ballots were already cast by mid-morning on Friday, surpassing the early voting figure from 2022.
Albanese insisted Labor still had a "mountain to climb" as he urged voters to grant him a second term.
"In uncertain times, you can be certain that Labor has a plan," he told reporters.
Labor is anticipating it will need to pick up seats to govern in its own right for a second term.
People queue to vote outside a pre-polling centre in Sydney, Australia
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The party is targeting Brisbane, Griffith and Bonner in Brisbane, Leichhardt in Cairns, Sturt in South Australia, Deakin and Menzies in Melbourne and Bass and Braddon in Tasmania.
In Victoria, Labor expects to lose Aston while Chisholm and McEwen are considered tight races.
The Coalition believes it is in contention in the western Melbourne seats of Hawke and Gorton, although Labor is confident of holding both.
Adam Bandt's Greens are confident of holding Griffith and Ryan in Brisbane and believe they are favourites in Labor-held Wills in inner-city Melbourne.
The Greens-held seat of Brisbane and target seats of Macnamara in Melbourne and Richmond in northern NSW are three-cornered contests and therefore harder to gauge.
"If you're concerned about the housing and rental crisis, you can't keep voting for the same two parties and expecting a different result," Bandt said in his final pitch to voters.
