It's being described by the prime minister as one of the biggest lies ever peddled in Australia - one that almost won Labor government.
Malcolm Turnbull insists he can form majority government despite Labor's unrelenting Medicare scare campaign.
But he concedes it's done some damage.
Mr Turnbull told the party faithful early on Sunday morning the coalition had faced some of the "most systematic, well-funded lies ever peddled in Australia" with Labor and the union movement spending millions of dollars frightening vulnerable Australians.
Thousands of Australians received text messages on election day purporting to be from Medicare, warning of Mr Turnbull's plans to privatise the system.
"Time is running out to Save Medicare," it said.
Mr Turnbull said police would "no doubt" investigate the incident.
He accused Labor of boasting about how skillfully it had lied on Medicare, describing it as a "shameful episode in Australian political history".
"This is the scale of the challenge we faced," he said.
"And regrettably more than a few people were misled."
Attorney-General George Brandis said the Liberal Party had referred the matter to police.
Health Minister Sussan Ley has called on Opposition Leader Bill Shorten to rule out that Labor or affiliated unions were behind the "desperate and deceitful" messages.
A Sky News Exit Poll showed health and Medicare was the most important issue for 72 per cent of voters.
Liberal Party Victorian president Michael Kroger said he personally complained to Medicare about fake cards that carried the agency's trademark were being distributed by the ACTU as part of its scare campaign.
But no one got back to him.
"If you did this to any other organisation they would've taken an injunction against you," he told Sky News.
"They should have stopped this."
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