Australians will soon know the size of the budget surplus the federal government expects to deliver in 2019/20 after it raked more tax revenue in its coffers than planned.
The figure will be revealed when Treasurer Josh Frydenberg hands down his first budget update on Monday, with the statement also tipped to show other improvements to the budget bottom line.
Labor has continued in its efforts to characterise the likely rosy picture as a product of good luck and direct people's eyes to debt levels.
"They have got billions rolling through the door courtesy of the global economy, and the budget is improving despite their efforts and not because of them," Labor spokesman Jim Chalmers told the ABC News channel on Sunday.
"Despite billions of dollars rolling through the door, we still have skyrocketing debt, which is double what the Liberals inherited when they came to office in 2013."
But the coalition begs to differ.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison says the update - known formally as the mid-year economic and fiscal outlook - will show the government is holding to its promise of better financial management.
"We promised to bring the budget back into surplus and that's exactly what we're doing," he told reporters in South Australia last week.
Economists believe the surplus forecast for 2019/20 could be as high as $11 billion, on the back of bigger-than-expected tax revenues.
Deloitte Access Economics expects the government will rake in an extra $9.2 billion in revenue in 2018/19 than it forecast in the May budget, leading to an underlying cash deficit of $4.9 billion for 2018/19, followed by a surplus of $4.2 billion the following year.
The government in May forecast a $14.5 billion deficit for 2018/19, followed by a $2.2 billion surplus in 2019/20.
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