May be Friday before chance to form government

With the numbers hanging in the balance, both the Coalition and Labor are also trying to make their cases to form government.

But even as they try, scrutiny is falling on both leaders and their futures in the Australian political landscape.

Already days after the federal election, it now could be another two weeks before the winners of some federal lower-house seats are determined.

The Australian Electoral Commission's Phil Diak says the commission has to wait for all of the postal votes for Saturday's election to come back to their home electorates.

"(There are) 1.5 million applications, over 1 million that we have on hand, others in the mail obviously that are still being receipted through the process. So, it's like a rolling process of roll checks. We did some before election day where the votes had come in, you know, before. We do that in our spare time before election day, not that there's much, but then, continuing that process, every single postal-vote envelope needs to be compared against the electoral roll to make sure the elector's entitled. So that's why the count slows down."

Liberal strategists are counting on a traditional postal-vote gain for Coalition MPs.

The Labor Party agrees it is unlikely to reach a majority of 76 seats, but it is not giving up hope of forming a minority government.

Opposition frontbencher Anthony Albanese says Labor could still form a minority government and he has no intention of challenging for the leadership.

He also says the composition of the new Senate, with its expanded crossbench, would probably be easier for Labor to manage than the Coalition.

But Mr Albanese admits it would be challenging and says it would not be surprising if Australians were called to the polls again well before a full term is completed.

He has told the ABC an automatic party-leadership spill, which would occur if Labor does not win, would result in leader Bill Shorten keeping his position.

"I think Bill Shorten is a very strong negotiator. That's one of his great strengths. There's no-one better in a small room than Bill Shorten. I think we will continue forward with Bill Shorten as the leader, and I'll be playing a role as part of the team, as I always have. I think the Senate is going to be particularly challenging, and I wouldn't be at all surprised if we're back at the polls not in three years' time but well before then."

Mr Shorten says Mr Turnbull is the party leader who should resign.

He says Mr Turnbull must take responsibility for the election debacle and quit.

"The real issue here is that half the Liberal Party want to get rid of Mr Turnbull. He's promised us stability, and he's taken Australia on this roller-coaster ride with this new Senate. It's a very unfortunate outcome for Australia. I think Malcolm Turnbull's disappointed his own party, disappointed Australians. He wanted a mandate for stability, and he's given us instability. He proposed Senate reform, and he doesn't know how the place works. Now he's given us a more chaotic Senate than we had even before the last election."

But Mr Turnbull has dismissed the comments.

He says he will wait for the final count of votes and will not be listening to the Opposition.

"Well, he would say that, wouldn't he? I'm sure he would. But I don't think we'll be taking advice from the Leader of the Opposition, do you? I think he obviously couldn't think of anything else better to say. Well, look, the count is continuing, and we remain confident that we will secure enough seats to have a majority in the parliament. All the votes have been cast, that's the good news, and it's now simply a matter to count them."

Disaffected conservatives are said to be pushing for a party-room meeting to ensure they are consulted before Mr Turnbull bargains with the independents and minor parties.

However, they have been warned any attempt to undermine the authority of Mr Turnbull threatens his chances of forming a new government.

The former chief of staff to Tony Abbott when he was prime minister, Peta Credlin, says she agrees.

But she has said on Sky that Coalition MPs do need an explanation.

"If Malcolm was smart, he'd have a party room and thrash out these issues, because, at the moment, that wonderful victory that they had in September 2013, where they had the faith and trust of the Australian people behind them, has been squandered in a term of infighting. And we watched Labor do that to themselves. We swore it would never happen to us. We swore it would never happen to us, and it took us two years before we pulled ourselves apart."

Cabinet Secretary Arthur Sinodinos, Attorney-General George Brandis and Industry Minister Christopher Pyne have all made strong statements of support for Mr Turnbull.

Parliament was due to resume in August, but the likelihood of a hung parliament has thrown that into doubt as negotiations with the independents to form a government could take weeks.