The coveted first position on the West Australian Senate ballot paper has gone to Fred Nile's Christian Democratic Party, while the Liberals are way down the list.
Second place went to Shooters, Fishers and Farmers, the Nick Xenophon Team grabbed third and Labor took fourth.
At 24th place, the Liberals are sandwiched among a block of far right-wing parties including Rise Up Australia, Pauline Hanson's One Nation and Australia First Party.
Political analyst David Black of Curtin University said the Donald Trump phenomenon in the US presidential race may have left such parties "a little bit more supercharged than usual".
And with it being a double dissolution election, quotas are low because all 12 Senate seats are up for grabs, so success may seem more attainable.
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"You only have to get 7 per cent after preferences to get in," Professor Black told AAP.
"All sorts of odd things can happen."
Prof Black said there could be more informal votes than previous elections because the Senate voting system had changed.
Voters will be allowed to preference six candidates above the line and 12 below, rather than simply vote "1" above the line or number every single box below the line.
"We don't know how many people will get the new system right and we don't know how generous the Electoral Commission will be, for example, if voters put Labor or Liberal 1 and nothing else at all," Prof Black said.
