Bob Katter believes he can hold his seat but his fledgling party is in for a "terrible belting".
He says he believes he can retain his north Queensland seat of Kennedy, despite a swing against him in early counting.
But he conceded that could change as the count goes on.
He said his party was not faring well in early counting.
"We are expecting a very bad result. They said a vote for us is a vote for the ALP in an election where the ALP was on the nose," Mr Katter told the Seven Network.
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"And we were totally unable to answer that. We had no money."
"We are expecting a terrible belting. We know we're in a lot of trouble here."
He said Clive Palmer's party, which is polling strongly, was visible all the time, but "we weren't".
He added: "It's no secret we had massive disorganisation" internally, and in relation to the party's finances.
He said he did not regret forming his own party.
"Absolutely not. The party's still there."
With Mr Katter behind in the count in Kennedy, coalition MP Christopher Pyne said things were looking uncertain for the veteran MP.
"Bob won't be able to rely on all of the preferences to come from Labor and Green voters. So that will be quite messy," Mr Pyne told the Seven Network.
"I don't think Bob will know for some time whether he's back in parliament or not."
