The leaders of the major political parties were quietly confident after 18.1 million people voted to determine who governs Australia for the next three years.
Polling stations closed at 6:00pm local time around the country which means they remain open until 8:00 pm AEST (10:00 pm GMT Friday) in Perth, which is two hours behind the eastern states.
Starting election day at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, Albanese used an Australian football analogy when asked he was feeling confident about his Australian Labor Party being returned to power.
“Game day and we’re at time on in the fourth quarter now. It’s up to the Australian people,” he said.
“I'm feeling pretty good. I've left nothing on the field.”
Albanese said it was in the interests of Australians for Labor, which leads the Opposition Liberal/National Party (LNP) coalition in the opinion polls, to be returned with a majority in the House of Representatives.
Labor holds 77 of the 151 seats, leading the LNP with 58 seats, Australian Greens four seats, independents including the so-called ‘teals’ 10 seats, and Centre Alliance and Katter's Australian Party one seat each.
“That's why I'm out there campaigning for the Labor Party and for number one votes for the Labor Party,” he said.
Opposition Leader Peter Dutton, whose Liberal/National Party coalition trails in the opinion polls, said he believed many Australians would vote for his party, although his seat is the most marginal held by the LNP in his home state of Queensland.
“I’m confident that Australians have seen through a bad government and I’m confident that Australians can’t afford three more years of what they’ve experienced,” Dutton was quoted as saying.
“There are a lot of families who are really doing it very tough at the moment and Aussies can’t afford three more years of Labor.”
