There are several seats still in doubt after Saturday's election.
In the House of Representatives (lower house), nine seats are still in doubt, while in the Senate (upper house) five seats are still undecided.
The Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) has described this election as the “largest and most complex count ever”.
Here’s the latest.
Seat count
The majority of the 150 lower house seats have been called.
Australia has a preferential voting system. Once a candidate receives more than 50% of the vote, they win a seat.
That means counting can take a long time, as very few candidates have won with more than half of the primary vote.
This refers to the percentage of voters who put a ‘1’ next to the winning candidate’s name. For example, in Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s seat, 54% of voters ranked him first.
If no-one reaches a majority after the first round, then whichever candidate received the fewest first preference votes is eliminated, and a second round of counting begins.
This means anybody who voted #1 for that candidate has their vote transferred to the person they put in the #2 spot.
That process is repeated until all candidates except the winner and the runner-up have been excluded.
Seats in doubt
Longman (Qld): The northern Brisbane seat is a tight two-horse race between Labor and Liberal.
Bradfield (NSW): The northern Sydney seat is a battle between the Liberals and a ‘teal’ independent challenger.
Bean (ACT): Independent Jessie Price, backed by campaign group Climate 200, is in a close race against Labor MP David Smith for the south Canberra seat.
Kooyong (VIC): The high-profile race between a Liberal and a ‘teal’ independent remains too close to call.
Complex seats
The remaining uncalled seats are less clear, because they’re three cornered races.
Ryan (QLD): The west Brisbane seat is a three-cornered race between the Greens, Liberal, and Labor. So far, the Greens are ahead.
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Based on the complex count, the winner will largely be decided by the preferences of the candidate who falls into third place.
If Labor finishes third and is knocked out, its preferences will help get the Greens over the line.
Flinders (VIC): The Liberal Party’s Zoe McKenzie is fighting to hold on to her Mornington Peninsula-based seat.
This is another seat where the person who finishes in second place will determine the winner.
Currently, Labor is in second place and Climate 200-backed independent Ben Smith is in third position.
If Labor finishes in second place, Smith’s preferences are likely to help the Liberals get over the line.
Bullwinkel (WA): Bullwinkel is a newly created seat in Perth’s outer-eastern suburbs, extending out to the regions.
Labor is ahead in a three-horse race with both the Liberal and National parties.
Labor is on 32.2% and the Liberals are on 24.4%.
The National candidate, Mia Davies, has finished third on 16.3%. These preferences are likely to favour the Liberals and potentially push them ahead of Labor.
The current preference count has Labor just ahead by 0.2%.
Calwell (VIC): The Labor Party has always held this northern Melbourne seat, but its vote has collapsed.
A range of other candidates could end up in second place, including two independents and a Liberal.
It’s not clear who will face off against Labor in the final two-candidate preferred count, where the preference flows will ultimately decide the winner.
Monash (VIC): Labor and Liberal recorded low primary votes in the regional Victorian seat, and, similarly to Calwell, the winner will be decided after preferences of multiple candidates are distributed.
When will we know?
The AEC has attributed the slow count to the complex races, but also the large presence of scrutineers.
These are people appointed by candidates to oversee the count. They can formally request a review of the counting of some ballots.
AEC Chief Commissioner Jeff Pope said scrutineer activity will end on Tuesday, 13 May.
The final postal votes that can be accepted as part of the count will arrive by Friday, 16 May.
