ELECTION 2016: Turnbull slams Labor's 'campaign of lies' and vows to form majority government

More than 15 million Australians will cast their votes in the 2016 federal election as major parties race to be the first to claim the 76 lower house seats needed to form government.

Coalition - 68
Labor - 65
Greens - 1
Other - 4
TO WIN - 76

12.50am - Signing off

That's it from 7 News, the result of this federal election may not be known for a few days yet. Full coverage and updates of the political landscape will continue from 6am.

12.27am - Extraordinary act of dishonesty: Malcolm Turnbull rounds on Labor over Medicare claims

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has angrily attacked Labor over its claims on Medicare, calling them some of the most systematic lies in Australian political history.

Greeted by former Prime Minister John Howard, Turnbull finally faced the crowd at the Sofitel Wentworth at about 12.30am eastern time.

“The Labor party ran some of the most systematic, well funded lies ever peddled in Australian politics,” he said.

“Telling venerable Australians that Medicare was going to be privatised or sold, frightening people and even today as voters went to the polls as you would of seen in the press there were text messages being sent to thousands of people across Australia that Medicare was about to be privatised by the Liberal party."

But despite the election result hanging on a knife edge, no final result or any sign of a result for days, the battered Prime Minister all but claimed victory.

Official results could be a week away.

"Based on the advice I have.. I am confident that we will be able to form a majority government all will depend of the counting and we await the completion of that," Turnbull said.

"We've seen this before in 1998, and this is an experience not unknown."

He said Labor could not form stable government and repeated the campaign line that the Coalition was better placed to manage the economy.

12.14am - Windsor bans News Corp journalist

AAP reports New England independent candidate Tony Windsor has closed the doors of his campaign headquarters.

"Well, I don't want them here," the former MP said from Tamworth in the New England electorate he is contesting on Saturday when asked why he'd made the decision.

The Australian published a story in the last week of the campaign alleging Mr Windsor was a schoolyard bully 50 years ago.

When asked whether his decision was counter to democracy, Mr Windsor said: "We pay the rent on the office.

12.07am - Julia Gillard congratulates Bill Shorten

Former Prime Minister Julia Gillard has echoed the words of Opposition leader Bill Shorten in declaring 'Labor is back'.

Gillard took to Twitter to congratulate Shorten on bringing the government to the brink of oblivion.

"Yes, the Labor Party is back. A great campaign on what we stand for by Bill, Tanya and the Labor team," she wrote.

11.57pm - Prime Minister on the move

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has left his Point Piper mansion and is headed into the centre of Sydney.

He is expected to take the stage at the Sofitel Wentworth shortly to address his supporters.

The hotel is about a 20 minute drive from his home.

11.35pm - 'The Liberal Party have lost their mandate'

A jubilant Bill Shorten has declared the Labor party is back.

The opposition leader told supporters a result for today’s election may not be know for days, but that did not stop him tearing into Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull.

“Three years after the Liberals came to power in a landslide they have lost their mandate,” Shorten said.

"The Labor party is re-energised, it is unified, and it is more determined than ever and we promise the Australian people that from government or opposition we will save Medicare"

“Whatever happens next week, Mr Turnbull will never be able to claim that the people of Australia have adopted his ideological agenda, he will never again be able to promise the stability that he has completely failed to deliver tonight.”

Shorten lauded his party and campaign team for their work over the past three years and over two months of campaigning.

“I would not swap a single day of the last three years and I would not swap a single person who I fought along side we are a great team in Labor,” he said. "Tonight is about the Australian people. Their love their future, the country they want to live in, the dreams they have for them and their families."

11.25pm - Where's Malcolm?

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has still not made an appearance in front of the media, as Australia’s election result looks set to go the distance.

Speculation is growing that Turnbull may not front the public tonight.

Senator James McGrath said it was ‘a wild rumour’ that his leader would not make an appearance, saying Turnbull was waiting for pre-poll numbers.

Opposition leader Bill Shorten has also not made an appearance but is reportedly preparing to address his supporters.

Almost five hours after polls began to close, the Coalition maintains a slender lead but the result is already being called a disaster for the government.

10.52pm - Bolt demands Turnbull's head

Conservative commentator Andrew Bolt has angrily demanded Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull resign from the Liberal leadership.

Bolt, who was a strident supporter of Tony Abbott, used his News Corp blog to declare the Turnbull prime ministership a failure.

“You assassinated a Liberal Prime Minister, Tony Abbott, who’d won an election by a huge margin,” Bolt wrote.

"You have been a disaster. You betrayed Tony Abbott and then led the party to humiliation, stripped of both values and honour.

"Resign."

Bolt said Turnbull had failed the Liberal party base and had failed to deliver the resounding election victory he had promised when he defeated Abbott in a leadership spill earlier this year.

10.25pm - Coalition pulls ahead

The latest estimates from the 7 News Predictor show the Coalition pulling away from the ALP 76 to 69.

10.10pm - Derryn Hinch wins Senate seat

“It looks like I’m going to be senator-elect,” broadcaster Derryn Hinch has announced.

The veteran journalist, who led his Justice Party into the senate battle, appears to have secured at least one seat.

Hinch claimed victory via Twitter, saying it looked like he was in.

He said he would be the oldest MP in parliament by the time his term came to an end.

Prior to the election he had been tipped to take the Senate seat currently held by Ricky Muir.

He joins Pauline Hanson among those tipped to enter the senate after today’s election.

9.55pm - Barnaby Joyce claims victory in the NSW seat of New England.

"I am so humbled," Joyce told his supporters. "Absolutely and utterly humbled by the incredible team we have and ladies and gentlemen you are that team."

Joyce successfully defended his position in the House of Representatives from challenger Tony Windsor, who held the seat from 2001 until retiring in 2013.

"We never take anything for granted, from the moment I came home, back to the New England, back to the place I was born and the place I love," Joyce said. "I’ve made sure that on your behalf and working with you that we’ve done everything in our power to make New England that strongest and the best possibly seat we could make it."

"I look around and so many people say 'you won' and I say 'no individual ever wins' that doesn’t work like that, a team wins.

"And when you go out to the polling booths and you see those people that start in the frost in the morning and are just there all the way through they are the most incredible people you will meet, because they believe, not just in their seat but they believe so fully that we must have a strong nation

“This victory is not mine, it is yours, it is yours and the effort that you put into it."

9.26pm - Windsor refuses to admit defeat as Joyce maintains lead in New England

Tony Windsor says he is unlikely to win his grudge match with deputy prime minister Barnaby Joyce for the NSW seat of New England.

Windsor told supporters it was unlikely he would win the contest, but said a formal result may not be known until tomorrow.

With more than half the vote counted, Joyce holds a commanding 15 per cent lead.

9.23pm - Dutton leads in close fight for Dickson

Immigration Peter Dutton is locked in a close fight for his Queensland seat of Dickson.

With just over half of the vote counted, Dutton leads Labor’s Linda Lavarch, 51.21 per cent to 48.79 per cent.

While Dutton holds a healthy lead in first preference votes, Greens preference have dramatically helped to close the gap for the Opposition candidate.

9.12pm - Jamie Briggs concedes defeat to Rebekha Sharkie

Scandal-plagued Liberal MP Jamie Briggs has conceded defeat in the Adelaide seat of Mayo after being unseated by Nick Xenophon Team member Rebekha Sharkie.

Briggs resigned from his ministry in December after allegations of improper conduct during a late night incident with a female public servant in a Hong Kong bar.

Sharkie, a former staff member for Briggs, is the first member of Xenophon's ticket to take a seat in the lower house.

8.50pm - Jones clashes with James McGrath as blame game begins

Jones began the heated line of questioning by stating, “There were a lot of bed wetter in the Liberal party, and you seem to be the captain of the bed wetters, you were the person who got panicked by polls and repeated the Labor experiment within the Liberal party on the basis that to use the Kevin Rudd language ‘You’re going to save the furniture’.

“The reality is that in 2010 Abbott won seven seats from Labor and in 2013 he won 18, in two elections he won 25 seats now I’m a former life coach and I go on a bit of form, the Liberal party out there will be very distressed about what happened how do you react to that?”

Senator McGrath angrily responded: “I think we’ve fallen into the trap of thinking that Allan Jones is a friend of the Liberal National Party.

“In Queensland he actively campaigned for Labor to win the last state election so Allan I actually don’t care what you think, because you’re not a friend of conservatives, you’re not a friend of the Liberal National party and I think you’re the king of the bed wetters actually.

“Let me explain about the Queensland thing,” Jones responded.

“You did so!” McGrath yelled.

He then continued, “You campaigned for the Labor party, you actively campaigned against the re-election of the Campbell Newman Government, you went as far as to call Deb Frecklington the member for Nanango a prostitute!”

“You are actually a grub!” McGrath continued to scream.

8.45pm - Strong result for Labor's Anthony Albanese

Labor heavyweight Anthony Albanese is in a strong position to see off a challenge from the Greens.

His Sydney seat of Grayndler had been considered under threat with Albanese losing several strong booths in an electoral redistribution.

But the season campaigner now finds himself in a strong position with 13.5 per cent of the vote counted.

Albanese leads the Greens Jim Casey, 68.14 per cent to 31.86 two party preferred.

8.15 - Kennett predicts big Hanson come back

Pauline Hanson is "back and in a big way" with the controversial politician looks set to enter the Senate.

But she's unlikely to cut too lonely a figure according to former Victorian Premier Jeff Kennett. Mr Kennett is tipping Hanson will win at least two senate spots.

8.10pm - Jamie Briggs edges towards the exit

Things are looking extremely shaky for dumped minister Jamie Briggs.

With less than 10 per cent counted it is still early days but Mr Briggs is on track to lose his seat to the Nick Xenophon Team’s Rebekha Sharkie.

The seat, which was once held by Alexander Downer, looks set to leave the Liberal party.

Pundits are already calling the seat a Liberal loss and it represents a major win for the NXT party, which appears to have gained a lower house seat in its first ever election.

It could be weeks until a Senate result is know, but Senator Xenophon will no doubt be claiming a big win tonight regardless of what happens in the upper house.

8pm - First indigenous woman wins lower house seat

Linda Burney has become the first Indigenous woman in the House of Representatives with her victory in the Sydney seat of Barton, unseating incumbent Nickolas Varvaris.

"Barton is back in the hands of the Labor party and we are very happy about that," Ms Burney said.

"The flirt with the Liberals is over, Barton is back where it belongs.

"We have created history tonight in Barton for Aboriginal people and for women."

7.38pm - Pauline Hanson could be back in parliament

LNP Senator James McGrath says Pauline Hanson looks set to claim a seat in the Senate after a strong performance in Queensland.

"I'm certain she's in, she's had some really good results," he said.

"She's got 20 per cent of the vote in cedar bay... her candidates.

"Pauline Hanson will be entering the senate."

Hanson tonight told her supporters at a post-polling function she expected to pick up at least two senate seats.

"People want their Australian culture they want their way of life," she said.

"I suppose they really see me as a person who really cares about them and who cares about this country."

7.24pm - Barnaby surges to the front in battle for New England

It looks like an international grudge match with Johnny Depp and a bitter campaign against former MP Tony Windsor has failed to derail Barnaby Joyce.

The Deputy Prime Minister is out to a 58 per cent to 41 per cent two-party-preferred lead over Windsor with about a quarter of polling booths returning.

Before preferences, Mr Joyce has passed 50 per cent of votes counted so far with 6,396 to Windsor's 4,115. No other candidate in New England has yet passed 1000.

6.33pm - Coalition with its nose in front in early stages of counting

It is very early days but the government may now be a little more comfortable thanks to an early lead in the polls.

With 7.09 per cent of votes counted nationally, the National party looks to have secured four seats, the Liberal National Party has one and the Liberal party has one. Labor appears to have four locked in.

Bob Katter appears set to retain his safe northern Queensland seat.

6.15pm - Mirabella takes early lead in Indi

Liberal candidate Sophie Mirabella has taken a slight early lead over Independent MP in her battle to retake her old seat.

But while Mirabella is ahead about 38 per cent to 34 per cent in the very early stages of counting, 7News political reporter Mark Riley is still tipping Kathy McGowan to hold on.

Barnaby Joyce has also opened a narrow lead over independent candidate Tony Windsor, who is trying to retake his old seat from the deputy prime minister.

6.10pm - Result still a mystery but blame game already underway

That didn’t take long.

The polls were not even closed today before the allegations of dirty tricks began.

The Liberal National Party has used its official Facebook page to accuse a Greens supporter of cutting down its election posters.

“Where do the Greens stand on law & order?” the post read.

“This man calls himself Tom. Last seen roaming the streets of Moggill wearing a Green T-shirt, carrying a stanley knife and loading LNP banners into his car.”

The LNP was not the only player starting to get hot under the collar. Reports have also emerged of angry voters being turned away from polling stations that underestimated the number of papers they needed.

6.04pm - Government leads by a nose as exit polls tip close race

A 7 News exclusive ReachTel exit poll is tipping a close result in today’s federal election.

But while the results look too close to call, the Coalition will be breathing a little easier as ballots are counted.

The government leads Labor 51-49 as polls close on the east coast.

The Liberal party is predicted to receive 38.9 per cent of the primary vote - down from 41.3 per cent at the 2013 election.

Its Coalition partner, the Nationals, has seen its primary vote decline by 0.4 of a per cent to 3.9 according to the survey of 3075 voters across Australian on Saturday afternoon.

Labor has seen its fortunes improve remarkably from its crushing defeat in 2013.

Polls suggest a 1.5 per cent increase for Labor, with a primary vote of 34.9 per cent.

The Greens look to have improved on their 2013 result with 11.1 per cent of voters saying they supported the minor party today.

The vote for “others” is up to 9.7 per cent. About 1.5 per cent said they would support the Nick Xenophon team.

5.46pm - Race to 76 as east coast polls prepare to close

The polls have closed on Australia’s east coast and the counting is about to start.

Exit polls are suggesting a close race. The bookies are tipping a thumping Coalition victory.

The race is now at the pointy end as the Liberal-National party Coalition and the Australian Labor Party see who (if anyone) can secure the 76 out of 150 lower house seats needed to form government.

If no party can secure 76 seats, negotiations will begin in earnest to determine who can form a minority government in a hung parliament.

Currently, the Coalition government holds 90 seats to Labor’s 55.

The Coalition seats in the current parliament are made up of 58 Liberal seats, 22 LNP seats, nine Nationals seats and one Country Liberal Party seat.

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The Greens hold one lower house seat. Katter’s Australian Party (for the purposes of the house, Bob Katter) holds one seat. Fairfax MP Clive Palmer will vacate his Queensland seat.

Independents Cathy McGowan and Andrew Wilkie hold the remaining two seats.

5.02pm - The cakes have run out. We repeat: The cakes have run out

Important news from Western Australia via Foreign Minister Julie Bishop - We have a cake shortage.

Apparently the only thing that whets a Western Australian's appetite more than democracy is cake.

Ms Bishop provided the following update on the developing situation:

4.40pm - Odds shorten on Labor victory but not by enough

Odds are shortening on a Labor victory today, however, the bookies are still tipping a safe win for the Coalition.

After blowing out to $8 yesterday, the average is back to about the $6.50 mark for Labor.

But there are some interesting signs in some of the biggest swing seats in the country.

If the bookies are to believe, controversial Liberal MP Jamie Briggs is a goner. Team Xenophon is paying $1.30 to $3.20 for the Liberals in the seat once held by Alexander Downer.

In Grayndler, the bookies have good news for Labor’s Anthony Albanese – he looks set to easily see off a challenge from the Greens.

According to Sportsbet, Albo is an almost unbackable favourite at $1.10 to the Greens $8.

While bookies have in recent years been scene as a reliable guide to election outcomes, this year it seems only the bookies or the pollsters will be right.

Barnaby Joyce is set to thump Tony Windsor in the NSW seat of New England, according to the money, but that stands in stark contrast to the boffins (as well as Joyce and Windsor) who insist that battle will come down to the wire.

We’re not far away from seeing exit polls. It is still anyone’s bet but the government looks set to retain office.

4.31pm - Bill Shorten lodges his ballot

After a six week campaign it almost feels like a mundane technicality, but it's an important one nonetheless.

Labor leader Bill Shorten has queued up, checked off his name and lodged his vote at Moonee Ponds in Victoria.

While the prime ministerial hopeful appears thus far to have eschewed the practice of photographing and posting his ballot paper to social media, we're just going to go ahead and assume we know whose named he placed a 1 next to.

3.45pm - Can South Australia and Nick Xenophon bring a seismic shift in Aussie politics?

Anything could happen in South Australia, according to 7 News senior political reporter Mike Smithson.

While much has been made of the X-factor brought by popular South Australian senator Nick Xenophon, it is anyone guess how much of an effect it was going to have.

At best, The Nick Xenophon team could take as many as four lower house seats. In Mr Smithson’s words that would “change the face of Australian politics”.

But such an earth shattering result requires NXT wresting Liberal strongholds like Barker and Mayo from the government.

That is a tall order with a nearly 17 per cent margin needed to take Tony Pasin out of Barker after just one term. Jamie Briggs seat of Mayo is tipped as one of the most vulnerable to a Xenophon challenge.

“It’s going to be close,” Mr Smithson said.

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“Undoubtedly it’s the closest and most interesting of any recent elections in terms of South Australian influence.”

But while some pundits believe four South Australian lower house seats could come under the NXT banner, Mr Smithson warns that it is still anyone’s guess and a zero result could also be likely.

3.25pm - Seats to Watch - Grayndler in Sydney's inner west - DJ Albo has a spin

Anthony Albanese – and his alter-ego DJ Albo - made an appearance in Sydney's inner west, spinning tracks at a public school in the contested seat of Grayndler.

The DJ arrived and played Taylor Swift's "Shake it off" to a large crowd of locals.

Admitting he was facing the toughest race he had run in while, the Tay-Tay anthem might have carried a personal message.

Three years ago Anthony "I fight Tories" Albanese was in a battle with Bill Shorten for the Labor leadership. Today he's in a battle to keep his seat.

Plenty of young families and people in exercise gear and skinny jeans watched as the member for Grayndler made his way into the packed Annandale Public School on Saturday.

"The eight strongest Labor-voting booths have been removed from my electorate," he said, adding that the result in the contest against Greens candidate Jim Casey would be close.

Mr Casey, a secretary for the Fire Brigades Employees' Union in NSW, voted earlier in the day in nearby Stanmore.

He told AAP the redistributed Grayndler area now encompassed Greens heartland.

"A lot of the social movement we're drawn from and hope to give back to is based around here," Mr Casey said.

"It's been a big effort but it always is in these areas."

Mr Casey said he would fight to ensure the local Westconnex road project is halted and guaranteed strong policies to mitigate climate change.

Following his stint behind the turntable, Mr Albanese was quizzed about what would happen with the ALP leadership should the party lose the election.

But he dodged the question, staying on message and saying the entire party had been working hard and was united behind Bill Shorten.

He also took a swipe at the Greens and labelled their campaign in his seat as "dishonest and duplicitous". "They should be judged on that," he said.

Polling showed the race for government was split between Labor and Liberal, he said.

"Malcolm Turnbull has been running against himself this campaign - against views that he's held for a long time on climate change, on marriage equality, on public transport," he said.

Mr Albanese said he would spend the rest of the day visiting booths across Grayndler and hoped that on Sunday he would become a minister in a Bill Shorten-led government.

3:25pm - 'Drunk Pirates' upset voters at Queensland poll

Police have been called to a Queensland polling station over reports Pirate Party volunteers were falling down drunk.

The Courier Mail reports onlookers contacted police to report the volunteers, who were allegedly drinking Fat Yak and struggling to stay upright.

The incident allegedly occurred at Sunnybank Hills State School. The drunken volunteers had reportedly left by the time police arrive.

The Pirate Party is a protest party that focuses its attention on copyright issues, among other policies.

3.03pm - Barnaby snubs local media as New England battle goes to the wire

It might be the final day of the race but the battle between Barnaby Joyce and Tony Windsor remains one of the most hotly contested seats.

But if Windsor efforts to paint Joyce as an outsider are having an effect, Joyce isn’t letting it show.

The editor of Armidale’s local newspaper the Armidale Express has taken to social media to vent about the Deputy Prime Minister snubbing local reporters at the polling station.

Fairfax Regional group editor for the Northern Tablelands Laurie Bullock wrote he had been rejected when asking Mr Joyce for a video message to voters.

“Just tried to get a video of @Barnaby_Joyce outside Armidale Town Hall. "I dunno man, can't you just get photos" said his minder,” Mr Bullock wrote.

He wrote on Facebook it was disappointing to see there was apparently no time for local media in Joyce's schedule.

The race for New England has been a tense one, pitting the high flying National against the former long serving local Independent.

With Joyce’s move to New England from Queensland after Mr Windsor’s retirement at the last election, his local credentials have been a key factor in the close race.

As election day loomed, many still tipped New England to be a knife edge race between high profile candidates.

If the locals agree with Windsor’s long held grudge against Mr Joyce, the Coalition could lose its second most senior MP.

2:20pm - Claims of election eve violence

Police are being called in to investigate claims a Greens volunteer has been bitten during a confrontation with a supporter of Liberal Party MP Kelly O'Dwyer.

The 48-year-old woman was allegedly confronted by two men while she sat in her car. A disagreement about election materials followed before the woman was allegedly bitten by one of two men.

The incident allegedly occurred at 9pm on Friday.

No arrests have been made but Victoria Police has confirmed a report has been made over the incident.

2.17pm - Seats to Watch - Batman in inner Melbourne's north

The long-time Labor stronghold is under threat from a Green insurgency.

With a changing demographic of young and upwardly mobile progressives have brought a challenge to the sitting member David Feeney who has a margin of about 10.6 per cent.

Feeney's hopes were severely damaged when he forgot to declare a $2.3 million property in the electorate.

Greens leader Richard Di Natale said candidate Alex Bhathal had a good chance to take the seat from Labor.

"We're in with a real chance," he told the ABC.

"We're coming from a long way back and we've got to contend with the fact that the Labor Party and Liberal Party have swapped preferences so we've got to get over their vote combined, but we've got a great candidate."

2.11pm - Seats to Watch - Higgins in inner Melbourne's southeast

This blue-ribbon Liberal seat in Melbourne's inner-southeast has given us two prime ministers – Harold Holt and John Gorton – as well as Howard era Treasurer Peter Costello.

Costello was succeeded by Kelly O'Dwyer in 2009. The young rising star made her way into the Cabinet following Turnbull's ascension.

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Today she faces a tight contest from Greens candidate Jason Ball, but to stand any chance O'Dwyer's primary vote will need to fall below 50 per cent.

On present polling, O'Dwyer has a very comfortable buffer nearly 10 per cent. Ball's vote would need to be astronomical, but never say never.

1.28pm - Embattled Jamie Briggs lambasted at the voting booths

Embattled Liberal MP and former cabinet minister Jamie Briggs copped a spray from one of his constituents when he showed up to vote in Stirling.

The Member for Mayo was harangued by woman over an incident in Hong Kong with a female diplomatic staffer at the polling station.

Following his resignation from the frontbench, Briggs admitted he sent a photo of the staffer on his phone to colleagues.

"Do you regret sending that photo of that lady to everybody," the woman asked Briggs in front of Sky News cameras.

"Do you regret it? Do you wish you didn't do it?"

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The incident led to Mr Briggs' resignation from the frontbench in late December.

The battle for Mayo is shaping up as an interesting contest, with the former South Australian Liberal leader Martin Hamilton-Smith campaigning for the Nick Xenophon Team candidate Rebekha Sharkie.

Briggs remains confident despite the confrontations and past indiscretions.

"I'm keen to vote, I'm going to vote for the Liberal Party and we're going to win," he said as he cast his ballot on Saturday.

12.56pm - Loud outside voices being heard in South Australia

Independent Senator Nick Xenophon says his party is engaged in an unprecedented three-way contest with Labor and the Liberals as votes are cast in the federal election.

He says his candidates have a chance of picking up several seats in the lower house and three or possibly four in South Australia in the Senate.

"This is uncharted waters in Australian democracy. There's never been a three-way contest in any state, ever," he said as he cast his vote in Adelaide.

12.34pm - Liberals confident in marginal Reid

The Liberal candidate for Reid says he doesn't think contentious local issues will prevent voters from returning him to the tightly contested inner western Sydney seat.

Craig Laundy ended Labor's 90-year-old hold on the seat in 2013, claiming a 3.3 per cent margin, and has faced a concerted campaign in the electorate from Labor to claim it back, including several visits by leader Bill Shorten.

Mr Laundy says he isn't worried local issues like the WestConnex and council amalgamations will sway voters against him.

"The people of Reid are good, switched-on, common-sense people," he told ABC TV from a polling booth at Burwood public school.

"They can discern between the levels of Government. At the end of the day this is a federal election. They will focus on federal issues, and they will vote accordingly."

Opposition Leader Bill Shorten was in Reid earlier in the day campaigning with Labor candidate and local councillor Angelo Tsirekas.

10.56am - 'Tastes like democracy': Shorten's last minute blitz on western Sydney

Bill Shorten loves the smell of sausages sizzling in the morning.

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The opposition leader spent the morning of Election Day campaigning in the western Sydney seat of Reid.

Currently held by Liberal MP Craig Lundy on a margin of about 3 per cent, Shorten's whistle-stop around Strathfield could swing it toward Labor's Angelo Tsirekas.

A few eyebrows were raised when Shorten bit into his sausage sandwich in the middle of the bun.

"Tastes like democracy," he said outside Strathfield North Public School.

Shorten encouraged the media to indulge in a while there as they "need to keep your energy up".

Invigorated by the snag and bun, Shorten brought out his campaign refrain - that this election is a choice on the future of public health.

"Australians have a clear choice in this election," he told Sky News.

"They can either have Medicare or Malcolm Turnbull but they can't have both."

10.20am Seats to Watch - Indi in the NSW Riverina

In 2013 a local independent by the name of Cathy McGowan ran against Liberal frontbencher Sophie Mirabella and won.

This election sees a rematch between the two women, with Mirabelle standing a real chance of reclaiming what was hers with the seat sitting on a wafer-thin margin 0.3 per cent.

A Roy Morgan poll in May found Mirabella could clinch the seat back from her independent usurper, giving her a 51 per cent chance over 49 per cent to McGowan.

09.41am - The PM casts his vote for 'Stability, security jobs and growth'

As he emerged from the local school hall with his arm around his wife, Turnbull told the press pack he cast a vote for the future of Australia, for his "children and grandchildren".

"Only a stable coalition government can secure that," Turnbull told the media scrum.

"Stability, security jobs and growth. That's the choice that we've made today."

09.31am - The PM casts his vote in Sydney's east

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has cast his vote in his eastern Sydney electorate of Wentworth.

A cold wind was blowing through the harbour-side suburbs when Turnbull and his wife Lucy attended Double Bay Primary School where he was greeted by constituents and the media.

Members of "Team Turnbull" welcomed their leader to the school, but that did not stop the dozens of campaigners from several other parties offering the PM a how-to-votes.

9.23am - News on your electorate – who are the candidates and where can I get a sanger?

Whether you call it a sausage on bread, sausage sandwich, a sausage sizzle, a sanger or a snag – one of the polling stations in your electorate it likely to have them on the barbecue.

To find out what your local high or primary school has on offer, visit Google's election blog which has compiled data from electorates around the nation thanks to the help of Democracy Sausage and Snagvotes.

The Google blog also has other important information on all the candidates standing in your seat.

9.03am - How you vote has changed

When you head into the polling booth you will have a number of things in your hands.

As well as the sausage, cake and two dozen colourful "how-to-vote" cards you some how picked up on your way through the gauntlet that formed on the street outside your local primary school, you will have two pieces of paper.

One will be small and green; the other one will be big and white and leave you wondering if someone gave you a bed sheet along with local member's pretty pamphlet.

The green slip is for the House of Representatives and how you fill it in has not changed.

Technically, you still need to fill in every box with a number to have it count, starting with 1 for your preferred candidate.

The large white sheet is for the Senate, and how you fill it in has changed.

If you choose to vote above the line you must number at least six boxes from 1 to 6, in your order of preference.

If you want to vote below the line, then you need to number at least 12 boxes from 1 to 12.

Not following the instructions correctly could see you vote discounted as invalided.

Likewise, drawing or writing on the ballot papers could see the vote cast aside too.

8.23am - Seats to watch - Not a two-horse race

By 6pm in Perth tonight around 15.6 million Australians will have cast their votes.

With Australia's preferential voting system, most voters will make a choice between either their local Labor or Liberal-National candidate.

But in some inner-city seats and a handful of rural electorates it could come down to a choice between one of the major parties and either a Greens candidate or an independent.

Seats to watch include Indi in the NSW Riverina and New England in northern NSW.

Batman and Higgins in inner Melbourne are seeing strong challenges from the Greens.

Kennedy in Far North Queensland and Denison in Tasmania are home to independents Bob Katter and Andrew Wilkie respectively, but both are sitting on very comfortable margins.

8.00am - Polls open in the eastern states

Polling booths open in Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and Tasmania.

Polls will close at 6pm sharp.

To find your nearest polling station - and which ones are serving up sausages and cakes - use Google's election map, made in conjunction with Democracy Sausage and Snag Votes

7.32am - A tight race

On the eve of the election when newspaper editorials tip their hat toward which party they think should rule, the support for returning Malcolm Turnbull was almost unanimous.

The same could not be said for the opinion polls, which are on the whole evenly split down the middle.

Newspoll's final measure of the electorate gave the coalition a razor-thin majority of 50.5 per cent to Labor's 49.5 per cent in the two-party preferred stakes.

An Essential poll got the exact same result.

A Galaxy poll released on Thursday found the same result as the 7 News ReachTEL poll, with 51 per cent preferring the coalition to Labor's 49 per cent.

An Ipsos poll taken on the same day gave it a 50-50 split.

6.35am - It's finally here!

Polls will open in the eastern states at 8am with many pollsters backing voters to return the Turnbull government to power – but only just.

A 7 News ReachTEL poll conducted on Thursday June 30 gave the coalition a 51 per cent preference on two-party preferred to Labor's 49 per cent.

The survey of 2084 residents across the country also found that slightly more than half of voters (54.5 per cent) are expecting Malcolm Turnbull to triumph.

However, almost a quarter of voters (23.1 per cent) believe there will be an undecided result, meaning a sizable chunk of the electorate think Australia could be left with a hung parliament.

That's not surprising, considering the close contest between Turnbull and Opposition Leader Bill Shorten.

Over the course of the eight-week campaign numerous polls stayed almost dead even.

Many had the Labor ahead on the two-party preferred vote early in the game, but in the final weeks the coalition edged ahead slightly, to a 51-49 per cent split.