Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull says the coalition should be able to form a majority government.
Malcolm Turnbull is confident the coalition can form majority government despite losing a swag of seats in Saturday's election.
With the result unclear at 12.30am AEST on Sunday, a surprisingly upbeat prime minister rallied the party faithful in Sydney.
"Based on the advice I have from the party officials, we can have every confidence that we will form a coalition majority government in the next parliament," he said.
Mr Turnbull conceded it was a "very, very close count" with 30 per cent of votes yet to be counted.
Linda Burney to become first female Indigenous MP in Australia's history
Linda Burney is set to become the first female indigenous MP in Australia's history, claiming victory in the Sydney seat of Barton early on election night.
It could be several days before the results were finalised, with official counting not expected to resume until Tuesday.
The coalition had been up against some of the "most systematic, well-funded lies ever peddled in Australia" with Labor and the union movement spending millions of dollars feeding its Medicare scare campaign to vulnerable Australians.
Police would "no doubt" investigate text messages sent to thousands of Australians on election day purporting to be from Medicare and warning of its privatisation by the Liberal Party.
