The marginal Sydney seat of Bennelong had just two sitting members in its first 58-years of existence. But it has changed hands twice in the last two elections and may do so again.
The seat is currently held by the Liberal Party on just 3.1%.
At the 2007 election, the seat became a pin-up for Labor's landslide victory, with journalist-turned-Labor politician Maxine McKew stealing the seat from then Prime Minister John Howard. Howard became only the second Australian PM to lose both his Prime Ministership and seat in the same election.
The seat is named after an Aboriginal man whom Governor Phillip befriended in 1789.
GEOGRAPHY
Source: ABS
Bennelong stretches across Sydney's north shore and parts of the western suburbs.
The electorate is bounded by Roselea and Melrose Park in the west, Paramatta River in the south, the Lane Cove River in the east and Devlins Creek and the Hills Motorway in the north.
Key suburbs include Epping, Ryde, Eastwood, Macquarie Park, Putney, Meadowbank and parts of Carlingford and Gladesville.
CONTENDERS
Mr Alexander wrested the seat off Labor's star candidate Maxine McKew at the 2010 election with a swing of 4.5%.
Mr Alexander is a former world number 8 tennis star and the recipient of an order of Australia medal for his services to the sport.
He says boosting cultural harmony via table tennis and market garden initiatives are key successes.
Mr Alexander is up against Chinese-Australian Jason Yat-Sen Li, pictured right, who was hand-picked by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd.
Mr Li is a former United Nations lawyer who has been living and working in Beijing.
His selection comes after Labor's first pick Jeff Salvestro-Martin was disendorsed after he became embroiled in a corruption inquiry into Ryde Council.
Mr Li's first foray into politics was against Pauline Hanson, running unsuccessfully for the Senate in 1998 on the multiculturalist Unity Party ticket.
Mr Li has also joined Liberal MP Malcolm Turnbull in the Republican movement sparking controversy when he criticised model Jodhi Meares for refusing to wear a T-shirt emblazoned with the slogan: "Give an Australian the Head Job."
The fluent speaker of Mandarin and Cantonese says he plans to make Bennelong a rival to the United States' tech-and-entrepreneur-hub, Silicon Valley.
Other key contenders :
PEOPLE
Population: 148,707
Median age: 37
Families: 39,607
Average children per family: 1.7
Median weekly household income: $1,498
Of all the Liberal-held seats, Bennelong has the highest proportion of overseas-born residents.
Just over half of the electorate was born in Australia (53.3%). The most common countries of birth were China (9.7%), South Korea (3.9%), Hong Kong (3.2%), India (2.8%) and England (2.3%).
More than 42% of people speak a language other than English at home, with 13,000 speaking Mandarin, 12,000 Cantonese and almost 7,000 Korean.
The electorate's Chinese population is widely credited for helping unseat John Howard by actively campaigning for Labor MP Maxine McKew at the 2007 election.
Nearly 60% of the population get to work by car, making roads and infrastructure a crucial election issue.
Key issues: Multiculturalism, traffic congestion, road upgrades, education, cost of living.
IN FOCUS: BENNELONG SUBURB OF RYDE
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