The election result remains too close to call with Labor's chances of winning government fading in a shock result.
Despite former Liberal prime minister Tony Abbott being ousted, the Coalition has performed far better than the polls predicted, while Labor has failed to pick up seats it was targeting.
Supporters watch the tally count at the Federal Labor Reception in Melbourne.
AAP
Deputy Labor leader Tanya Plibersek said the results were not what they had hoped, but there was still a lot of uncertainty.
Ms Plibersek told Sky News they had not done as well as they needed to in the battle-ground state of Queensland.
She refused to speculate about the future of Bill Shorten saying he had done a "fantastic" job on the campaign trail.
Labor MP Anthony Albanese also said he expected the party to be doing better at this stage.
"There's no point gilding the lily," Mr Albanese told Channel 9.
"We have a government that's voted no confidence in itself - we've had three PMs in five years - we have a government and I don’t know what their agenda will be. So I did expect that we would be doing better at this stage of the evening."
The mood in the Labor Party function in Melbourne has faded from upbeat optimism early in the night with supporters now tense and subdued.
veteran Christopher Pyne said the Coalition was not considering the prospect of forming a minority government yet.
"I think there is a good chance that we can form a government... which is a very far cry from where we started the night," Mr Pyne told Channel 10.
The Coalition's optimism comes even after suffering a major blow in Warringah with the loss of former prime minister Tony Abbott to independent Zali Steggall.
Tony Abbott lines up to vote on election day.
AAP
Mr Abbott suffered a huge swing against him of almost 14 per cent, according to the Australian Electoral Commission.
In his concession speech, Mr Abbott focussed on the better-than-expected overall result for the Coalition.
"What's best for the country is not so much who wins or loses Warringah, but who forms, or does not form, a government in Canberra," Mr Abbott told his supporters.
"And tonight we can be extraordinarily confident, more confident than we ever had any right to expect, that we will have continued good Liberal-National government."
