Labor and the coalition have backtracked on comments their leaders made on foreign investment and health spending, as jobs and spending cuts continue to dominate the election campaign.
The confusion came as Prime Minister Kevin Rudd accused Opposition Leader Tony Abbott of fraud over of an alleged $10 billion hole in his policy costings.
Labor sources say the twin issues of coalition costings and Mr Abbott's $22 billion paid parental leave scheme are resonating with voters in key marginal seats.
But senior Labor figures were forced to clean up after Mr Rudd's comments at the leaders' debate on Wednesday that he would review foreign investment rules to prevent "open-slather" purchases.
Agriculture Minister Joel Fitzgibbon, who has announced a register for foreign-owned agricultural land, said the government hasn't discussed tightening Foreign Investment Review Board rules.
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"Politics is not just about legislation, it's about leadership, and sending the right messages," Mr Fitzgibbon said.
"The important message ... is to say 'Don't worry about foreign investment, we're going to produce a register which will allow you to monitor it, and to demonstrate to you how low it is'."
Shadow assistant treasurer Mathias Cormann accused Mr Rudd of policy on the run.
Mr Rudd was moving fast - he started the day in Canberra, where he was briefed on the Syrian crisis, went to Melbourne to unveil an analysis of coalition costings and promise to fill a gap in shipbuilding work before heading to Perth.
He disparaged shadow treasurer Joe Hockey's interim list of policy costings and over $31 billion in savings.
Labor's analysis claimed that one of the coalition's biggest savings - cutting 12,000 public servants - only totalled $2.8 billion, not $5.2 billion.
And not proceeding with the low income superannuation contribution would save $1.7 billion, not $3.7 billion claimed by Mr Hockey.
"This is a $10 billion fraud on the Australian people," Mr Rudd said.
Mr Abbott insists the figures were produced by the parliamentary budget office (PBO) and validated by three experts.
"When it comes to budget figures, when Mr Rudd's lips are moving you know he is not telling the truth," Mr Abbott said.
But the opposition leader also found himself under fire over his plan to review Labor's Medicare Locals program after telling Wednesday's debate: "We are not shutting any Medicare Locals."
Health Minister Tanya Plibersek said the coalition had taken four positions on Medicare Locals.
"They were going to get rid of them, then they said they were going to review them, then they said they couldn't rule out closing, and last night they said they could rule out closing," she said.
Mr Abbott said he would not guarantee all Medicare Locals would "stay exactly the same".
"But our focus is on trying to move money from the back office to frontline services," he said.
He visited a western Sydney school to announce a $70 million fund to support public schools wanting to become independent, with a target of 1500 by 2017.
The coalition will also match Labor's budget for the Better Schools plan over the next four years.
"School funding stays under us," Mr Abbott said.
With nine days to go before the election, betting agency Sportsbet paid out punters who put their money on a coalition win.
But Mr Abbott said the election remained "very, very tight".
