Former prime minister Kevin Rudd is reportedly expected to be named foreign minister in Labor's new minority government, while key independent MP Rob Oakeshott will announce whether he will accept a regional development ministry today.
As the working week ends after one of the most historic weeks in Australian politics, there is unlikely to be much downtime for Prime Minister Julia Gillard.
Ms Gillard will continue to try and steady the ship three days after she clung to power with a wafer-thin majority over the coalition, with the support of Oakeshott and fellow independent Tony Windsor following the August 21 poll.
Labor's review of its campaign, which has been labelled by some as the worst ever, will be underway after caucus dissected the close call.
Neither side of politics has announced new front benches.
For Labor it may hinge on whether Mr Oakeshott accepts Ms Gillard's offer of a ministry dedicated to regional Australia.
He said he hoped to make an announcement on Friday but had to weigh up family and other considerations.
Opposition Leader Tony Abbott, buoyed by the better than expected result for the coalition, will be looking forward to the first parliamentary sitting later this month.
Malcolm Turnbull, the leader whom Abbott deposed over an emissions trading scheme, is reportedly likely to become shadow minister for communications in the Coalition.
Former Labor minister Graham Richardson said the opposition would "rip and tear" from the first day of a parliament where Ms Gillard would struggle to get legislation through.
Both Mr Richardson and former opposition leader John Hewson predict the minority government will last no longer than 18 months.
It may limp along a little longer but opinion polls would start to show a majority of people wanted an election fairly soon, Mr Richardson said.
"I can't see three years under any circumstance," he said.
Mr Abbott will be hoping so and that Mr Oakeshott and Mr Windsor's constituents will not judge their decision to side with Labor kindly, so he has another chance at being prime minister sooner rather than later.
