Polling booths around Australia have opened with millions of voters set to choose the winners and losers of the 2019 federal election.
More than 16 million Australians are expected to take part in the national vote at 7000 polling locations across the country.
'It will be a long night'
To start election day, Prime Minister Scott Morrison launched a last-ditch blitz of northern Tasmania.
Mr Morrison is visiting two voting stations in northern Tasmania. He will then travel home to Sydney's Sutherland Shire to vote, before campaigning with other Liberal MPs in marginal seats across the city.
"I think it will be a long night. I've always said this election will be close," Mr Morrison told Network Seven's Sunrise on Saturday.
"Five weeks ago people weren't saying that but I've always known it to be the case," he said.
Labor leader Bill Shorten is expected to visit seats in the key battleground of Victoria.
Mr Shorten started the day with a jog around Melbourne in a t-shirt with the slogan "Vote 1 Chloe Shorten's husband".
"What I know after 2000 days in the job is that I'm confident Labor can run a united government," he told Seven's Sunrise.
The opposition leader went on to vote in his electorate of Maribyrnong in western Melbourne.
Several other candidates also cast their votes.
Green leader Richard Di Natale voted mid-morning, after saying it would be a climate change election.
"What I'm hearing from lifetime Liberal voters is that they want strong action on climate change," he told the ABC.
Former Prime Minister Tony Abbott voted in his seat of Warringah not long after polls opened.
He is facing the fight of his political career against Independent Zali Steggall.
"I've always been a nervous candidate," he told reporters.
"Sure, I've got a few butterflies doing loop-the-loops in my tummy today as well. But that's the lot of all candidates because the one thing you can never take for granted is the vote of the Australian people."
Early-voting up
About 4.76 million votes have been cast at early-voting centres, with 700,000 votes cast on Friday, the final day of campaigning.
This compares to a total of 2.5 million at the same stage of the 2016 federal election.
In addition, there have been 1.5 million postal vote applications, the AEC said.
More than 1500 candidates have thrown their hat into the ring across 151 electorates, including more than 400 candidates contesting 40 Senate vacancies and just over 1000 people vying for 151 House of Representatives seats.
The final Newspoll of the campaign had Labor ahead of the coalition 51.5 to 48.5 on a two-party preferred basis while the last Ipsos poll had Labor ahead 51-49.
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