At the launch of Tasmania's state election campaign almost five weeks ago, both major parties were clear to emphasise one thing.
Premier Will Hodgman, who currently leads a Government with a three-seat majority, says the Liberals will do no deals with the Greens or other minor parties to hang onto power.
"We will govern alone or not at all, because we believe majority government is best for our state."
Four years ago, voters emphatically rejected the previous Labor-Green power-sharing government, handing the Liberals a landslide result.
And Labor leader Rebecca White says her party will not make the same mistake again.
"I'm making it very clear to the people of Tasmania, because we learnt from the last period of minority government that people were not happy with the Labor Party. I represent the seat of Lyons. The conversations that I had with people across the seat of Lyons was that they were very disappointed in Labor for that period between 2010 and 2013. If we don't learn from that now, when will we?"
The latest poll of a thousand Tasmanians shows the Liberals have gained ground since the start of the campaign and are likely to hold on with a very slim majority.
But a hung parliament is a possibility.
In that case, says Greens leader Cassy O'Connor, a minister in the previous minority government, the major parties would have to face reality.
"We say that minority government is government for grown-ups and majority government is government for vested interests, corruption and corporate deals."
The Liberals' late surge in support could be due to a huge funding commitment on health, a key vote-decider.
The Liberals have promised more than $750 million in health funding and to employ more than a thousand health professionals over six years.
That trumps Labor's $500 million plan to fix the ailing health system.
Mr Hodgman is also campaigning on the Liberals' economic record.
"This will be a crucial election, because, if you change government, you'll change the direction of our state. It will be a crucial decision for Tasmanians, because, whilst we've achieved a lot and our economy is now much stronger -- 10,000 more Tasmanians at work, our unemployment rate has come down, we've fixed the budget as we said we would, and we're able to then invest more into health, into education, into public safety, into our roads ..."
The issue that has generated the most interest nationally is Labor's bold plan to get rid of poker machines from pubs and clubs, a plan which would set a powerful precedent if successful.
Despite the national attention, it is unclear if that will translate into votes where it counts.
University of Tasmania political analyst Richard Herr raises another reason the election is being closely watched across Bass Strait -- in particular, by Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull.
Dr Herr draws parallels between the Prime Minister and Will Hodgman.
"Both have had centrist, inclusiveness-type images that were seen as perhaps reducing some of the tribalism of politics and yet been hampered by the right-wing elements of their parties that have been forcing them away from the centre and creating the appearance of division and a lack of effectiveness."
