As expected, the first televised debate between Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte and rival Geert Wilders of the anti-Islam Party for Freedom was heated.
The two men laid out starkly opposing visions for their country's future ahead of the crucial vote in the Netherlands on Wednesday.
The latest poll suggests it will be a tight race, with the Prime Minister's party returning as barely the largest in the 150-seat lower house of parliament.
But polls show about 60 per cent of Dutch voters remain undecided.
During the 30-minute debate in Rotterdam, Mr Rutte has defended his economic record over the past five years.
"We're out of the crisis. We can now make sure that people feel this in their personal lives. That's a tremendous success. If we had left it to you, Mr Wilders, we wouldn't have taken these difficult decisions. We would have now been in the situation of France and Italy, with struggling economies, increasing unemployment and big problems. I'm glad I took this responsibility in 2012."
Mr Wilders called the Prime Minister untrustworthy, and Mr Rutte responded that a Wilders government would plunge the Netherlands into chaos.
Mr Wilders is unlikely to be able to form the next government even if he wins the popular vote, because all mainstream parties have ruled out working with him.
But the Prime Minister admitted his rival's party could still end up being the biggest winner in the elections.
"On Wednesday, the Netherlands has the chance to prevent that we wake up on March 16 with you as the biggest party. And that chance is still a very real possibility."
One of Mr Wilders's key promises is to take the Netherlands out of the European Union.
"Nexit is the best thing that could happen to us. We'd become, once again, the bosses in our country. Once again, we would get the keys to our own front door. How many people at home would find it unpleasant to not even have the keys to their own homes so they can see which guests they let in and which not? And we've calculated this seriously, Mr Rutte, by an agency which has won prizes. And what is the case? Our economy would grow. We would get more purchasing power, and there would be more jobs."
Another key pledge from Mr Wilders is his mission against what he calls the "Islamisation" of the country.
He has promised to close all mosques and ban the Koran.
"Eleven per cent of Muslims in the Netherlands - that's a hundred thousand people, twice the size of the Dutch army - and they think it's justified in the Netherlands to use violence in the name of Islam. If you are not willing to see that, you are in danger."
But Mr Rutte questioned how his opponent would follow through with the policy.
"And then he comes with another plan: He wants to remove Korans door-to-door. I still don't understand how you want to execute this. I'm very curious which 'Koran police' will have to do this? But if this is your answer, Mr Wilders, to this problem, the only answer would be to cut back this influx and to properly integrate the people already here and to be absolutely clear about our norms and values. But your policy is mopping up while the tap is running."
The Netherlands' diplomatic conflict with Turkey also dominated the debate.
Tensions erupted between the two countries over the weekend after the Dutch blocked Turkish officials from holding rallies in the Netherlands.
That has prompted a flurry of angry rhetoric and threats from Turkey's leaders.
The Dutch candidates clashed over the handling of the diplomatic row.
Mr Wilders accused Mr Rutte of being too soft and called for the immediate suspension of diplomatic ties.
"The Turks are escalating it further. Yesterday, Mr Erdogan repeated again, on television, that he thinks the Dutch are fascists, that he thinks the Dutch are Nazis. They want to take to court the heroes, our (police) agents, who cleaned up the square in the end because it had to be done. So I thought, 'It's escalated already.' And so, Mr Rutte, we shouldn't be standing around and saying, 'We don't want to escalate it.' We have to respond. At least expel immediately the Turkish ambassador and his staff. Otherwise, we accept that we're being offended, our (police) too."
But Mr Rutte called his opponent irresponsible.
"This is the difference between tweeting from the sofa and governing the country. When you govern the country, you have to make sensible decisions, and what you've said isn't sensible."
