Weirdest moments of Australia's 2013 election campaign Yet another selfie ... Nada Makdessi with Kevin Rudd and Tony Abbott at the Rooty Hill RSL People's Forum. As the campaign draws to a close, federal politicians have made a last ditch pitch to voters. After five weeks of debate, arguments and gaffes, it is the Coalition that heads into Saturday's ballot with a clear lead in the polls. FOR 35 days, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and Opposition Leader Tony Abbott have zigzagged across the country asking people to vote for them. Dozens of speeches, billions of dollars in promises, thousands of kilometres travelled, hundreds of hands shaken. And then there were all the selfies. Prime Minister Kevin Rudd poses for selfies at St Columan's College in Caboolture. Picture: Andrew Meares Source: Supplied The 2013 election campaign draws to an end today as a record 14.7 million enrolled voters queue up to have their voice heard. The contest between the daggy dad with his aspiring Coalition and the selfie-obsessed popularity seeker with his battered and bruised Labor Party has been filled with highs and lows. From the entertainment, to the best policies and weirdest moments, these are the best bits of the last 35 days: TONY Abbott copped flak for listing "sex appeal" as one of his candidate Fiona Scott's top traits while campaigning in the western Sydney electorate of Lindsay. He also described the push to legalise gay marriage was the "fashion of the moment," he joked about "body contact" with teenage netballers and he accidentally declared no one could be a "suppository of wisdom." Every step of the way his daughters - the "not bad looking" ones, according to Abbott himself - have been there to reassure voters they are just "daggy dad" moments. With daughters by his side, Opposition leader Tony Abbott speaks to media on the his election campaign bus in Brisbane. KEVIN Rudd, meanwhile, kept more regularly on script but blundered one speech with "the f-bomb" during a campaign event in Adelaide. As he addressed workers at a Holden factory, Rudd mistakenly referred to one of the company's staffers, whose family had dedicated 162 years to making cars for the company, as working at "Ford." "Sorry Holden, Holden, at Holden," the Prime Minister quickly followed up. Rudd was also accused of "cheating" by using notes in the first of the leaders' debates The PM and opposition leader have had a dead-heat in the first leaders' debate of the election campaign. and copped the label of "rude" by a Brisbane make-up artist after the second debate. COALITION NSW candidate Jaymes Diaz started the campaign with an awkward television interview where he failed to name his party's six-point plan to tackle smugglers of asylum seekers to Australia. "We have a plan to stop the boats," was all he could offer. It ensured Diaz, the Liberal candidate for the marginal western Sydney seat of Greenway, was the talk of the election for the next five weeks - including being ripped into by popular American comedy current affairs program The Daily Show. ONE Nation candidate in Brisbane Stephanie Banister was caught out in a TV interview saying she didn't "oppose Islam as a country" but objected to "their laws" in Australia. She bungled her views on the religion as well as on Judaism. The 27-year-old mother-of-two, who at the time faced criminal charges over anti-Muslim behaviour, ended up withdrawing from the campaign despite arguing her comments were taken out of context in the Channel 7 interview that made heads shake around the globe. THE Heads of Treasury and Finance publicly disputing claims by Rudd of a $10 billion black hole in the Coalition's budget was widely touted as one of the most dramatic turns in the campaign. It effectively torpedoed what was being used by Labor as one of its strongest weapons in frightening voters away from voting for Abbott. Labor maintained its claims of a black hole were correct, despite Treasury and Finance making the highly unusual step to publicly deny they had examined the Coalition's policies. THE debates. Though none of the three head-to-head battles proved a KO for either Rudd or Abbott, they provided the closest thing to a candid insight into the leaders that voters would get to see all campaign. The first was criticised as the most sterile - Abbott and Rudd, from behind lecterns, sparring over questions asked by the media. The second and third - the peoples' forums - proved some more insightful moments. At the Broncos' Leagues Club in Brisbane, Abbott asked if Rudd would "ever shut up" when he felt cut off trying to answer a question. A week later, at Rooty Hill in western Sydney, it was truck driver Ian Barker who won the best response when he asked Abbott why "the forklift driver in Mount Druitt (should) be paying his taxes so the pretty little lady lawyer on the North Shore can have a baby." Attacked Tony abbott's paid parental leave plan ... Truck driver Ian Barker at Rooty Hill RSL. RUDD'S impassioned answer about same-sex marriage when quizzed by a Christian pastor on the ABC's Q+A was arguably the most popular single answer of the entire campaign. "They are gay if they are born gay," Rudd said when asked why he changed his views on gay marriage. You don't decide at some later stage in life to be one thing or the other. RUDD had been brought back as Prime Minister to provide the boost Labor thought would win it the election. But his popularity fizzled too soon as poll after poll since the election was called began to swing more in favour of Abbott and the Coalition. The election indicators have been increasingly bleak for Rudd, with some pointing to a Labor wipe-out in Queensland and western Sydney, and some showing the Prime Minister even at risk of losing his own seat of Griffith. I'M Kevin, I'm from Queensland and I'm here to help. His name's Peter, he's from Queensland and he's here to help as well," Rudd joked as he introduced former premier Peter Beattie as the candidate for Forde and Labor's planned weapon to win back Queensland. It says much about the Prime Minister's hold-nothing-back bid to win the election, and the importance placed on his home state, which served him so well in 2007. DOES this guy ever shut up? Abbott's question of the Prime Minister during the Brisbane peoples' forum on August 21 polarised many voters who had abandoned their support for Rudd. "I WILL fight in this election right through until the end," declared Rudd on August 19 as the polls started to tip against him. THE worst deficit is not the budget deficit. It's the trust deficit," Abbott said in his campaign launch on August 25, summarising one of the Coalition's major planks in its strategy to beat Labor. WELCOME to the age of the political selfie, where our political leaders indulge as many voters as possible wanting a self-taken photo with the politicians. Rudd has always been a master at adapting to campaigning online in the 21st century and he has tried to harness that momentum since his peculiar Instagram post showing he had accidentally cut his face while shaving. It sparked what became a selfie-obsession throughout the campaign, with both the Prime Minister and Abbott stopped countless times during public events to have pose with their constituents. The best came after the third leaders' debate in Rooty Hill when Nada Makdessi managed to convince both Rudd and Abbott to join her for a selfie. WITH more than 1.3 million followers, Rudd is one of the most popular elected world leaders on Twitter. Throughout the campaign he's used his Twitter profile to rally support. Statistics prior to the election showed Rudd was being discussed more than 500 times an hour when he announced in July the policy to include Labor members in the appointment of the party leaders. RUDD announced a new youth mental health policy at the same time he invented a new nickname for himself during a question and answers session on social media website Reddit. His unusual decision to take part in an Ask Me Anything forum was aimed at winning over younger voters, and he signed off from the hourlong chat with: "Rudd dog." A NEW way (Labor) Reward. Opportunity. CUTS, cuts, cuts (Rudd about the Coalition) STOP the boats (Abbott on asylum seeker policy) ABBOTT says his bold new paid parental leave scheme is a win for all Australian mothers. It's one of the boldest and most expensive new policies by the Coalition and has attracted its fair share of critics, including from some in the party. But Abbott declares he's committed to the scheme, which will give mothers 26 weeks paid leave at their current wage up to a maximum annual earnings of $150,000. Opposition leader Tony Abbott defends the Coalition's Paid Parental Leave scheme. RUDD has managed to maintain support for his National Broadband Network, despite the allegation that it is too expensive in the current economic climate. The $44.1 billion program aims for speeds of 1000 megabits per second or more by 2021 - it's more than $10 billion more expensive than the Opposition's broadband proposal, but also provides significantly higher download speeds. BOTH parties have promised a tough stance on asylum seeker policy in a bid to stop people smugglers and win votes. Rudd made major changes to Labor's policies ahead of the election, with deals for asylum seekers who arrive by boat to be resettled in Papua New Guinea or Nauru and not Australia. Abbott, meanwhile, echoed John Howard when he said: "This is our country and we determine who comes here." He has maintained a tough approach, with the addition of new measures like a buyback scheme where Indonesian boats suspected of being used for people smuggling will be purchased by the government. Tony Abbott's plan to build a tent city for asylum seekers on Nauru has been seized upon as proof he won't be able to stop the boats ABBOTT hopes building roads will equal winning votes - he has dedicated $18.5 billion in pre-election promises to major road works. Many of the promises take in marginal seats and the Opposition isn't alone - Labor has promised more than $800 million to similar projects. News Corp online readers were asked to rate their personal favourites from the campaign. Here's how they voted: KEY moment: Abbott's "does this bloke ever shut up" comment directed at the Prime Minister during their people's forum clash in Brisbane. THE best kiss: Rudd's "grab and lunge" embrace of an overjoyed supporter on a visit to Brisbane won the lip-locking highlight of the campaign, ahead of Abbott's various bungled smackers, including the moment he missed one woman's face entirely. TOP vote-winning policy: Abbott's promise to dump the Carbon Tax, saying it will save households thousands of dollars. It was trailed by the Opposition's paid parental leave scheme and Labor's national broadband network. Opposition leader Tony Abbott says repealing the carbon tax will be the first agenda item under a Coalition government. BEST photo-bomb: Rudd achieved the unusual feat of being photobombed by posters of Adolf Hitler and other despots during a school visit in Sydney. It was more popular among readers than the man in budgie smugglers pictured behind the PM during a press conference and a cow's messy disruption of a Bob Katter speech. TOP gaffe: Readers couldn't go past One Nation's Stephanie Banister, who made headlines after referring to Islam as a country in a shambolic TV interview. While it was ranked the biggest bungle of the campaign, Abbott's "sex appeal" comment and Rudd's "rude" run-in with a TV make-up artist were also popular.