Some were impressed, some indifferent and some sick of hearing the same lines over and over again.
The prime minister and his Labor counterpart went head to head in Sydney's western suburbs on Friday in the first debate of the eight-week election campaign.
About 100 undecided voters from the area fired questions at the leaders, who have been hitting electorates for five days trying to win votes for the July 2 poll.
The official debate results gave the win to Mr Shorten 42 to 29, with another 29 voters walking out still undecided.
Some seemed disillusioned with the major parties, even after an hour and a half of answers.
Lee Elsdon doesn't believe either leader was particularly genuine.
"I don't think anybody trusts them," he told AAP after the debate.
"I thought most of it was what we've heard already." Aged pensioner John D'Silva agrees and will be waiting until closer to election day to decide which boxes to number on voting day.
He missed out on getting a question but was hoping to ask about politician retirement benefits.
"Their age of entitlement isn't over," he told AAP.
"Why don't budget constraints apply to them?" Mr D'Silva believes politicians should be living on their own savings or aged pensions like most voters.
"I sometimes think the average politician looks after their own interest." The debate ran through topics from the nation's debt levels to income tax to health to education.
Anne Foley, who rated the leaders 50-50 on their performances, is most interested in the parties' education policies.
Her daughter is a teacher and she supports fully funding the Gonski needs-based model, which Labor has committed to.
"(My daughter) has to spend her own money buying resources for the school," she told AAP.
Like Ms Foley, Peter Maloney found the debate interesting but rated Mr Shorten about one per cent ahead of his rival on the night's performance.
He's still undecided but he found both leaders "quite positive".
"It wasn't a very negative campaign, which was what (former prime minister) Tony Abbott had which turned me off the Liberals quite a lot," he told AAP.
Despite saying Mr Shorten was better at taking in what the voters were asking, Mr Maloney did have trouble recalling the opposition leader's name.
But the Labor leader seemed to impress Nada Macdessi, who secured selfies with both debaters.
"I think we saw a different side to Bill Shorten which I've never seen before," she told AAP.
"I just think he was right on the ball tonight, he must have had a lot of coffee."
Outside the debate, voters were a bit miffed they weren't allowed into the main event but still keen to voice their opinions.
Ross Farr, who traditionally votes Liberal, isn't happy with Mr Turnbull's performance and believes there's not much separating the party from Labor.
"I think it's the toss of a coin," he told AAP.
Friend and Labor supporter Debbie Dodds reckons Pauline Hanson should get back into politics.
"I think we should go back to white policy," she said.
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