Australians will soon head to the polls to decide who will lead the nation, with the starter's gun fired on the coming election to be held on 21 May.
The contest will pit Prime Minister Scott Morrison against Labor leader Anthony Albanese, with a fierce campaign set to unfold to win over the trust of voters.
The long-awaited lead up to the poll has already seen both leaders hit the hustings in key battleground states in a sign of the whirlwind of political stopovers to come.
There’s also no shortage of concerns that could sway public opinion of voters at the polls.
With cost of living pressures, circling national security threats and a renewed spotlight on climate change from devastating flooding all live flashpoints.
Voters are also being warned about lengthy queues on election day because of COVID-19 protocols, with patience urged by the Australian Electoral Commission as it's set to execute the most expensive poll in the nation's history against the backdrop of these challenges.
The political contest
The Coalition starts this election once again behind in the polls after Mr Morrison also faced the same position during his self-described "miracle" victory at the 2019 election.
His government is intent on fighting to retain office by delivering to voters’ back pockets, with a swathe of financial promises made in the federal budget.
It is also making an appeal to maintain faith in its credentials as economic managers, while it navigates the praise and scrutiny of its handling of the pandemic.
Meanwhile, Labor has been adamant it is not taking support expressed in polling for granted, having been burned by these predictions at the last election.
It argues families are being left behind by the rising cost of living and stagnant wages because of the Coalition's mismanagement.
Labor also lays blame over what it says is a failure of the Coalition’s three terms in power to implement ambitious long-term policies for the future.
The election equation
There are 151 seats in the House of Representatives, also known as the lower house of parliament.
The winner of the election would need to win more than half of them to be elected to the government without looking to the crossbench.
This means Labor would likely need to win at least seven further seats to form a majority government at the election.
The current makeup is 60 Liberal-held seats, 16 for the Nationals and 68 for Labor.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison during Question Time in the House of Representatives at Parliament House in Canberra. Source: AAP / MICK TSIKAS/AAPIMAGE
The government also holds a bigger buffer against losing office in this election compared to the last contest.
In 2019 the government was defending 12 seats on margins under three per cent, compared to only three in 2022.
A pandemic poll
The challenges posed by an election during COVID-19 are also set to play out on a national scale for the first time.
This means the poll will be the most expensive in history, predicted to come with a price tag of more than $400 million — about $100 million more than in 2019.
A record 17 million people are enrolled to vote this year, that’s also up from around 16 million at the last election.
Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese reacts during House of Representatives Question Time at Parliament House in Canberra. Source: AAP / LUKAS COCH/AAPIMAGE
Australian Electoral Commissioner Tom Rodgers told SBS News authorities have been working well ahead of time to ensure they’re ready for polling day.
This includes sourcing 34,000 litres of cleaning fluid, 64,000 litres of hand sanitiser and 4.6 million pencils — compared to 100,000 usually - because of the need to sanitise.
"We don’t want to turn this into a superspreader event so we are looking at a range of different options," Mr Rodgers said.
"Everything from simple through to strategic — it’s going to be slightly different."
Longer wait times
The pandemic protocols will also mean Australians are expected to face longer wait times at the ballot box — a challenge the electoral commission is well aware of.
"Australians hate queuing — it is a visceral hatred and we’re doing as much as we can to try to manage those queues," Mr Rodgers said.
"We really would plead for tolerance if it takes slightly longer to get your vote it won’t be anything like the queue times we’ve seen in certain overseas jurisdictions."
The electoral commission expects this will also mean more people could look to postal or early voting instead.
Voters fill in their ballots at Town Hall in Sydney, Australia, in a federal election. Source: AP / Rick Rycroft/AP
"If there are a large number of close seats, we have to wait for 13 days after the election for postal votes to come back," he said.
"It might mean it takes slightly longer for the result to become clearer."
Members of the House of Representatives are elected to serve a maximum of three-year terms.
But senators are elected for fixed six-year terms, meaning only around half will face an electoral test this time around.
Marginals seats
Political parties already have a close eye on which electorates need to be won or held to get across the line.
Those seats with the slimmest margin include the Liberal-held Bass in Tasmania held by 0.4 per cent, the seat of Chisholm in Melbourne’s east on 0.5 per cent and Boothby in South Australia on a margin of 1.4 per cent.
Others tightly held battlegrounds include the Labor-held seats of Macquarie - west of Sydney — on a 0.2 per cent margin and Labor’s Brisbane seat of Lilley on a 0.6 per cent.
The Labor-held seat of Eden-Monaro in southeast NSW is also on a tight 0.8 per cent margin and Cowan in Western Australia is on a 0.9 per cent margin.
Electorate changes
The Australian Electoral Commissioner makes a determination on the number of members to be elected from each state and territory ahead of each election.
This year it sees Victoria gain a seat and Western Australia lose a seat.
Sausages cooking during a previous federal election at the Glenferrie Primary School voting centre in Melbourne. Source: AAP / JAMES ROSS/AAPIMAGE
Meanwhile in Victoria, a new seat called Hawke was created covering Sunbury, Melton and Bacchus Marsh to the west and north-west of Melbourne.
This seat would have a notionally Labor majority.
Misinformation and threats
The AEC has warned about the threat of misleading electoral information ahead of polling day by launching a disinformation register.
“We are taking action to make sure that misinformation doesn’t foster online,” Mr Rodgers said.
The Australian Federal Police has also established a specialised taskforce aimed at providing security to politicians, following incidents of credible threats against parliamentarians online.
But after all the long-awaited build-up to the election contest - there’s also every chance it could be a cliffhanger.
The mixture of a tight contest and postal vote counts means the result may not be known by the end of polling day.
