MELBOURNE/SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australia’s Liberal-led conservative government was headed for a remarkable victory at the national election early on Sunday after uncovering a narrow path to victory that twisted through urban fringes and rural townships.

The results upended pre-election polls which predicted a Labor victory, though it is unclear whether the Scott Morrison-led coalition can govern with an outright majority or will need to negotiate support from independents.

The final result may not be known for some time.

“I have always believed in miracles,” Morrison told cheering supporters at Sydney’s Wentworth Hotel, where the government holds its official election night function.

“Tonight is not about me or it’s not about even the Liberal party. Tonight is about every single Australian who depends on their government to put them first.”

The conservative government has won or is leading in 72 seats in its quest for a 76-seat majority, according to the Australian Electoral Commission.

Several seats are still too close to call and the final result is complicated by a large number of early votes that have delayed counting.

Morrison’s coalition defied expectations by holding onto a string of outer suburban seats in areas where demographics closest resemble America’s Rust Belt, blocking Labor’s path to victory.

This included a devastating result in the coal-rich state of Queensland, which backed the Pentecostal church-going prime minister by defying expectations and delivering several marginal seats to his government.

Labor leader Bill Shorten said late on Saturday he could not win enough seats to form a government. Speaking to supporters in Melbourne he said he would step down as party leader. </s> Australia 2019 elections: Scott Morrison and Bill Shorten go head-to-head in close battle

Australia 2019 elections: Scott Morrison and Bill Shorten go head-to-head in close battle

More than 16 million Australians are eligible to head to the polls on Saturday to select the democratic country's eighth prime minister.

The country has seen six changes of prime minister over 12 years, which is mostly the result of infighting in both major parties.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison, leader of the Liberal-National Coalition government, is hoping to win a third three-year term against the Labor opposition, led by Bill Shorten.

Mr Morrison, who replaced Malcolm Turnbull as prime minister last August, hopes that tax cuts and the Australian economy will be enough to secure his position in office.

All 151 seats in the House of Representatives, known as the lower house, and 40 of the 76 seats in the Senate, the upper house, will be up for election.

Both parties have promised that whoever is elected prime minister will lead the country until voters next choose - most likely in three years' time.

Here is a round up of what you need to know about the elections:

Voting will take place on Saturday to elect members of the 46th parliament of Australia.

Polling stations will be open between 8am and close at 6pm in each state. They are typically located at schools, churches or other community buildings.

All voting will be complete by 8pm when polls close in Western Australia.

Who is the favourite?

The election sees the current prime minister, Scott Morrison, go against Labor Party leader Bill Shorten.

Both candidates are seeking an outright majority in the 151-seat House of Representatives to win office.

For the past two years, opinion polls have consistently put Labor ahead of Mr Morrison's Liberal Party-led coalition.

The opposition Labor Party retained a narrow lead over Mr Morrison's government in a poll conducted by Newspoll on 13 May, putting Labor ahead of the Liberal-National coalition - 51% against 49%.

The government has remained behind since.

The poll revealed that 44% were satisfied with Mr Morrison's performance and 44% were dissatisfied for a net zero approval.

Mr Shorten's net approval was up eight points to -10, which was his best net approval since 2015.

However Mr Shorten, who has been the Labor Party leader since 2013, is not particularly popular with Australians.

While Labor has beaten the ruling coalition in more than 50 consecutive Newspoll surveys, Mr Shorten's approval ratings still trail behind Mr Morrison's.

The latest poll showed only 35% of respondents thought Mr Shorten would make the better prime minister.

Mr Shorten has blamed his position as opposition leader for his popularity problem.

He has said: "When you're the opposition leader, the only time you get on the media is by opposing... when you're prime minister, you can be constructive."

... A little more about the incumbent PM

The incumbent prime minister Scott Morrison has been leading the Liberals since August 2018 after taking power when the party turned against former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull.

A member of the House of Representatives since 2007, he was previously an immigration minister where he implemented tough policies on asylum seekers, before he was promoted to treasurer in 2015.

Saturday's elections will determine whether Mr Morrison can maintain his shaky grip on power or whether the centre-left Labor party will return to office after six years in opposition.

Mr Morrison said on Friday the election result "is going to be incredibly close".

When will the results be announced?

Preliminary counting of votes will begin at polling stations straight after they close.

The winner for the lower house, which forms the government, will most likely be known on Saturday night or in the early hours of Sunday morning.

However, there were reports that the election result could be delayed due to the very large number of pre-poll votes already cast.

Australian electoral commissioner Tom Rogers warned that the early votes will stretch the resources of the Australian Electoral Commission and create more complexity around counting on Saturday.

"It's a huge logistic activity; we'll be doing our very best, but there may well be some delays on the night," he told ABC.

Who needs what to win?

Seventy-six of the 151 lower house seats are needed to an overall majority.

As it stands, the ruling coalition is on 73 and Labor is on 69.

To win a majority, either the coalition or Labor must win 76 or more seats.

The coalition won the 2016 election with 76 of the 150 seats to 69 for Labor, however Labor later gained 14 seats.

Labor is expected to do better in terms of seats as a result of these gains.

How does the vote work?

When voting, Australians must number their choice of candidates when choosing 150 members of the lower house and some 76 seats of the upper house.

A number "1" next to a candidate's name is considered a first preference.

The contender who receives more than 50% of the total first preference votes is declared the winner.

If nobody receives at least 50% in first preference votes, then the candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated.

The votes would then be distributed to the remaining hopefuls based on the second preferences until a candidate reaches 50%.

Electoral authorities aim to make voting quick and simple without the long queues that are characteristic in other countries.

Australia enforces compulsory voting to ensure high rates of participation and more than 16 million Australians are eligible to vote in Saturday's elections.

Could there be a hung parliament?

Labor's quest for a majority could be ousted if independents perform strongly.

Currently, there are seven crossbenchers (independent or minor party members) and there could be more if for example the Greens win more seats in Victoria.

If there is a hung parliament, the party that can negotiate with the crossbenchers the best, and gain support to gain 76 seats, will form government.

What are the parties' policy differences?

The policy differences between the two major parties have been described as the widest divide at a federal contest in 26 years.

Promoting a "mood for change", Labor is regarded as pursuing a "big target strategy" with a diverse range of policies aimed at creating a more equitable society under the slogan "A Fair Go for Australia" - which is an Australian colloquialism for providing justice.

The coalition is promising a steady course in uncertain times under the banner "Building Our Economy, Securing Your Future".

Mr Morrison has warned voters that Australia's slowing economy would be harmed by Labor's ambitious agenda.

Opinion polls show that climate change has become a major concern for Australian voters.

Labor has pledged to reduce the country's greenhouse gas emissions by 45% below 2005 levels by 2030 and achieve zero emissions by 2050.

Mr Morrison's coalition government has committed to reduce emissions by 26% to 28% by 2030. It warned that Labor's ambitious target would wreck the economy.

Tax, refugees and Australia's relationship with China have also proven to be contentious issues. </s> Scott Morrison will remain as Prime Minister after an extraordinary night saw the Coalition claim an unexpected election win.

In a result which opinion polls and betting markets failed to predict, the Liberal and the National parties recorded strong swings to them - particularly in Queensland - granting them a possible slim majority or a minority with the support of independents.

The result was called shortly after 9.30pm AEST - as results began to be called in Western Australia.

Labor struggled to pick up enough seats even in Melbourne, in its strongest state Victoria, and has lost electorates in Brisbane, north Queensland, western Sydney and Tasmania.

ABC election analyst Antony Green said Labor had little hope of even forming a minority government, with Labor failing to pick up any marginal seats in Perth.

'At this stage, we think the Morrison Government has been re-elected. We can't see an alternative to a Morrison Government in the numbers we're seeing at the moment,' he said.

'We can't say whether the Government will be in a majority or minority, but we're certainly seeing enough numbers to say that the Coalition will end up with more seats than Labor.'

Mr Green said the result was a 'spectacular failure of opinion polls' with the upset representing the first occasion since 2004 that a federal government has enjoyed a swing towards it.

Former Liberal prime minister John Howard, who won that election, said voters had rejected Labor's 'politics of class division'.

'I did believe very strongly Bill Shorten had overplayed his hand on the class warfare,' he said.

Ironically, the Coalition had not won a Newspoll since 2016 and Labor had won 55 consecutive Newspolls going into the election.

This included a period which saw Malcolm Turnbull replaced in August as prime minister after the Liberal Party's right-faction revolted against his energy policy.

Labor, so far, appears to have only gained the NSW South Coast seat of Gilmore, where the Liberal Party was running former Labor national president Warren Mundine, and possibly Chisholm in Melbourne's south-east where sitting member Julia Banks had quit the Liberal Party to sit as an independent.

It has an outside chance of winning Boothby, in Adelaide's south, with a swing of 3.2 per cent towards it - in a seat the Liberal Party has held since 1949.

Mr Shorten's big-target strategy backfired, with voters rejecting his plans to curb negative gearing tax breaks for investor landlords, deprive share-owning retirees of franking credits and slash carbon emissions by 45 per cent by 2030.

Having now lost two elections, he will most likely to be replaced as Labor leader, six years after he beat left-faction contender Anthony Albanese, even though his opponent had more support from party members in a postal ballot.

'Tonight is an outcome that is disappointing,' Mr Albanese told his supporters in Sydney's inner-west.

His Sydney-based deputy Tanya Plibersek is another possible leadership contender and blamed preferences from One Nation and mining magnate Clive Palmer's United Australia Party for the poor result in Queensland.

'It's not the result we'd hoped for in Queensland,' she told the ABC.

Mr Howard likened Labor's loss to the 1993 'unloseable' election when Liberal leader John Hewson was defeated, campaigning for a 15 per cent GST.

'There was a whiff of 1993 about the last couple of weeks,' he told the ABC.

'One side had been ahead in the polls but the other had gained ground during the campaign.'

On the NSW Central Coast, which had a high number of retirees, the Liberal Party recorded a 4.3 per cent swing to it, boosting sitting member Lucy Wicks' margin to 5.5 per cent.

The Liberal Party, however, has been punished in one of Sydney's wealthiest electorates.

Former prime minister Tony Abbott became the first major casualty of an surprising general election, losing his blue-ribbon seat of Warringah after 25 years in Parliament.

His independent challenger Zali Steggall, a Winter Olympic skiing medalist, has romped home on Sydney's northern beaches in a contest fought over climate change action.

Steggall had an impressive 49.2 per cent of first-preference votes compared to just 35.4 per cent for Mr Abbott, in early counting, representing a mammoth 11.4 per cent swing against the Liberal Party.

'I know I'm going to sound croaky but what a day,' she said, claiming victory.

Taking a dig at her socially-conservative opponent Mr Abbott, she this was 'a win for moderates with a heart.'

'I will be a climate leader for you,' she said. 'I will hold the new government to account and make sure they take action on climate change.'

She paid tribute to the former PM's 'work ethic and contribution to this community'.

Conceding defeat, Mr Abbott said: 'I'd rather be a loser than a quitter.'

He also declared Mr Morrison, who replaced Mr Turnbull as PM in August, would be a Liberal Party legend.

'Scott Morrison will rightly enter the Liberal pantheon forever,' he said.

Former Nationals deputy prime minister Barnaby Joyce slammed GetUp! and left-wing activists for targeting Mr Abbott, as the Coalition recorded strong swings to it in Brisbane's outer suburbs and regional Queensland.

'You went after Tony you clowns ... and forgot about everyone else,' he told the ABC.

In Queensland, the Labor Party suffered a 4.4 per cent against it, making it the Opposition's worst state.

Liberal Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton has survived and recorded a 3.8 per cent to him in his marginal northern Brisbane seat of Dickson, despite earlier controversy earlier in the campaign where he questioned the living arrangements of his Labor opponent Ali France, who lost a leg in 2011.

He described his win as 'the sweetest victory of all ' - quoting former Labor prime minister Paul Keating's victory speech in 1993, when won the 'unloseable' election.

The Sunshine State was bad for Labor, which was on course to lose neighbouring Longman, in Brisbane's north, with a 4.1 per cent swing to the Liberal National Party.

Herbert, which Labor's Cathy O'Toole won by 37 votes in 2016, was lost, with a seven per cent swing to the LNP.

The Liberal National Party is also recording strong swings to it in its marginal seats of Capricornia, Dawson, Petrie and Forde.

Senior Labor frontbencher Penny Wong acknowledged the areas of Australia north of the Tweed were historically hard for her party to maintain support.

'Queensland's tough for us,' she told the ABC.

NSW Liberal senator Arthur Sinodinos said Prime Minister Scott Morrison was 'straight forward' and popular in the outer suburbs of Brisbane.

'A personifies a certain daggyness people aspire to,' he told the ABC.

Senator Sinodinos said the anti-Adani protests led by a former Greens leader - 'Bob Brown's caravan' - had also hurt Labor in north Queensland.

Tasmania is also punishing the Opposition, with the regional seats of Bass and Braddon going to the Liberal Party with swings of six per cent.

Labor is also suffering double-digit swings against it in in western Sydney, where it looks likely to lose the seat of Lindsay and possibly neighbouring Macquarie.

Liberal Immigration Minister David Coleman has retained the south-west Sydney seat of Banks with a 4.3 per cent swing towards him, boosting his margin to 5.8 per cent in a seat that Labor had held from 1949 to 2013.

This is in stark contrast to an early Nine Network/Galaxy exit poll which showed Bill Shorten would be Australia's next prime minister, with the Opposition ahead of the Coalition 52 to 48 per cent on a two-party preferred basis nationwide.

The poll surveyed 33 electorates across six states and found a swing to the ALP in every state, ranging from 1.1 per cent in Queensland, 3.2 per cent in Victoria and 2.5 per cent in New South Wales.

The exit poll, since proven wrong, had the Coalition's primary vote sinking by three per cent, to 39 per cent, since the 2016 election, which former Liberal prime minister Malcolm Turnbull narrowly won.

Labor's first-preference vote has surged by the same margin to 38 per cent, giving it the edge with preferences from the Greens, who had 10 per cent support.

The major parties will need 76 seats to win a parliamentary majority in an expanded 151-seat House of Representatives with early counting showing uneven swings in key marginal seats.

The Nine exit poll of 3000 voters found that health and Medicare were the main issues that influenced their voting, followed by cost of living and climate change.

The Labor Opposition went into the election notionally holding 72 seats, following redistributions, compared with 73 for the Coalition.

His Queensland Liberal National Party could lose Forde, in Brisbane's south, along with Capricornia, centred around Rockhampton, and Flynn, which takes in Gladstone.

The exit poll came as Scott Morrison refused to say whether he will carry on as Liberal Leader should he lose the election.

The Prime Minister addressed the media after kissing his wife Jenny as they cast their ballots in his electorate of Cook, in southern Sydney.

Unlike his confident opponent Mr Shorten this morning, Mr Morrison shied away from predicting the result.

'I make no assumptions about tonight,' the Prime Minister said.

He then refused to comment on whether he would continue as Liberal leader as he stares down the barrel of defeat after serving just nine months as PM.

'As I have said when this question has been put to me before, this election is not about my future. It is about your future. It is about the people of Australia's future,' Mr Morrison said.

'It is about their aspirations, their ambitions. It is not about my aspirations or Bill Shorten's ambition, it is about the Australian people's aspiration and that is what I have focused on.'

Revealing that he voted for himself, he joked: 'I think you can guess how I voted today because I hear the local member is pretty good.'

Mr Morrison thanked supporters and said he would not like to predict the result, adding: 'I make no assumptions about tonight.

'I respect this process. It is dear to my heart, the democracy of our country. I am making no presumptions. I don't take anyone's support in this country for granted.'

The election is being held just two days after the death of Labor's longest-serving prime minister Bob Hawke, who won four elections in 1983, 1984, 1987 and 1990.

Mr Shorten cancelled last-minute campaigning in Brisbane to focus on remembering Mr Hawke at memorial events in Sydney.

The former Australian Workers Union leader this morning said he is so confident of winning the election that he is already planning what he would do on his first day in power.

He gave a short speech outlining his priorities, after casting his vote at Moonee Ponds, in his Melbourne electorate of Maribyrnong and awkwardly eating a democracy sausage.

Should the Opposition Leader prevail tonight, he would become Australia's sixth prime minister since June 2013 - a sharp contrast to an era when Mr Hawke governed for almost nine years through several recessions and implemented far-reaching economic reforms with support from the union movement.

In less than six years, Australia has gone through Julia Gillard and Kevin Rudd from the Labor side, and Tony Abbott, Malcolm Turnbull and now Mr Morrison from the Liberal Party.

Since 2010, four of them have dumped by their own party, with Mr Shorten playing a pivotal role as a factional powerbroker in the dumping of two Labor PMs.

A victory for Mr Shorten tonight would also make him the first sitting Australian prime minister to have divorced and remarried and the 31st person to occupy the nation's highest office.

His stepchildren Rupert, 17, and Georgette, 16, and his seven-year-old daughter Clementine will be the first blended family to live at The Lodge in Canberra and Kirribilli House on Sydney Harbour.

Should Mr Morrison remain as Liberal Party leader, he would be the first electorally defeated prime minister to take over as Opposition Leader since Gough Whitlam remained as Labor leader in December 1975, following the controversial November 11 Dismissal.

With less than nine months as PM, he is the shortest serving officeholder since Country Party leader John McEwen briefly served in that role in December 1967 and January 1968, following Harold Holt's drowning.

Standing alongside his popular wife Chloe, he declared that his first move would be to make a law raising pay for shift-workers at nights and weekends.

The 52-year-old said: 'In the event that the people of Australia voted for action on climate change, we will be ready to hit the ground from tomorrow. We'll be ready to start straight away and we will start straight away.

'My first cabinet meeting, the first order of business, we will put a submission to the independent umpire to get the wages moving again for millions of our fellow Australians.

'My first legislation will be to reverse the cuts to penalty rates.'

Mr Shorten also explained that tackling climate change is another priority, saying: 'We will convene the parliament as soon as possible to start action on climate change.

A reporter asked Mr Shorten if he would quit politics if he lost the election.

'Let's hold the horses here,' the leader replied. 'I'm confident that Labor can win. Is Mr Morrison staying around? Have you asked him?'

Polls suggest the opposition leader is on track to become prime minister and lead Labor to government for the first time since 2013.

Mr Shorten and his wife Chloe met voters in long queues before casting their ballots on Saturday.

He chomped a sausage sandwich afterwards, partaking in one Australia's great election day traditions.

'Tastes like a mood for change,' he said.

Mr Shorten kicked off his day in trademark fashion, with a morning run around Melbourne wearing a red t-shirt with 'Vote 1 Chloe Shorten's husband'.

He then switched outfits, donning a suit as he made a final pitch to voters on breakfast television.

The Labor leader is expected to spend the day on polling stations around the Victorian capital, considered a key battleground in the election.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Scott Morrison is keeping the faith as he stares down a likely election defeat.

All signs suggest the coalition will be sent packing after a narrow Labor win on Saturday night.

'I think it will be a long night. I've always said this election will be close,' Mr Morrison told Sunrise on Network Seven.

'Five weeks ago people weren't saying that, but I've always known it to be the case.'

The final Newspoll of the campaign shows Labor edging ahead of the coalition by 51.5 to 48.5 per cent on a two-party preferred basis.

But both sides believe battles in 20 key marginal seats across the country will decide the result.

Mr Morrison spent his election morning in Tasmania where the Coalition was trying to soak up every vote possible to take the marginal seats of Bass and Braddon from Labor.

He then flew to Sydney to cast his own vote in the Sutherland Shire, before campaigning with other MPs in marginal electorates across the city.

The Prime Minister has presented this election as a presidential-style race between himself and Mr Shorten.

Voters will now deliver their verdict on whether his frenetic five-week campaign has been enough to secure the coalition a third term in power.

Mr Morrison spent the final full day of his campaign targeting a clutch of key seats throughout Queensland and NSW.

The Liberals are expecting reasonable results in both of the states, with Victoria and Western Australia firming up as the crucial battlegrounds. </s> Australia has compulsory voting and a complex system of ballots ranked by voter preference. The political, economic and cultural differences varies from state to state on the vast island-continent

Melbourne: Australia's ruling Conservative Coalition led by Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Sunday made a "miraculous" comeback in the general election, defying exit polls and devastating the opposition Labor Party, forcing its leader Bill Shorten to step down.

Around 16 million Australians swarmed to the polling booths across the country on Saturday to elect the nation's 31st prime minister, in what was widely referred to as the climate-change election. The latest results showed that the Conservative Coalition has won 74 seats while labour secured 66.

A party needs 76 seats for a simple majority in the 151-member House of Representatives. It was not clear if 51-year-old Morrison will require the support of independent MPs to govern. But an independent, Helen Haines, who won from the seat of Indi, said that she would be working with the Coalition in the scenario of a hung parliament. Haines said she was very determined to work with the government on addressing climate change.

Morrison along his wife Jenny visited a church in Sydney's Sutherland Shire on Sunday in his electorate of Cook where he thanked his local voters. "I have always believed in miracles... for me and for my government, for all of my team it's all about you...tonight is about every single Australian," a beaming Morrison told his supporters.

"You don't get to be a Prime Minister and serve in that capacity unless you first are a member for your local electorate. I want to thank everybody here in my local electorate and local team," said Morrison, who has only led the government since last August, when Liberal Party colleagues lost confidence in his predecessor Malcolm Turnbull. Morrison had wooed voters by saying if re-elected, the Coalition would deliver a stable economy, more jobs and tax cuts. He also promised funds for women's career initiative and domestic violence and conservative plans to deal with climate change. "Our government will get back to work just as Gladys Berejiklian got back to work in New South Wales, just a few months ago," he told his supporters. Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump congratulated Morrison on his election victory. President Trump congratulated Prime Minister Morrison on his Coalition's victory in Australia's federal election, White House deputy press secretary Judd Deere said.

"The two leaders reaffirmed the critical importance of the long-standing alliance and friendship between the United States and Australia, and they pledged to continue their close cooperation on shared priorities," Deere said. Center-left Labor Party leader Bill Shorten, who campaigned heavily on reducing greenhouse gas emissions, conceded his defeat and said he would resign as the party leader. "I called Scott Morrison to congratulate him... wished him good fortune and good courage in the service of our great nation. The national interest required no less," Shorten said while addressing his supporters in Melbourne. A Nine-Galaxy poll released shortly before the voting stations closed in the east of the country showed a victory for the Labor party and Liberal Party-led coalition losing its bid for a third three-year term.

The poll showed the Labor winning as many as 82 seats, beating the ruling Coalition. On Friday, media reports also endorsed Labor leader Shorten as the best chance to end a "cycle of instability" in Australian politics. Before elections, the Coalition held 73 seats, while Labor 72 in the House of Representatives. According to media reports, the ruling Liberal supporters started celebrations at the party headquarters after it became clear that it may form the next government. The Greens, Centre Alliance and other Katter's Australia party has all taken one seat each. The Coalition managed to make significant gains in Queensland and Tasmania and limited its loss in New South Wales and Victoria. Former prime minister Tony Abbott, who once described climate change as "crap", lost his seat of Warringah in northern Sydney to independent Zali Steggall, a lawyer and Olympic medallist in Alpine skiing, after suffering a swing of over 13 per cent votes against him.

"This is really extraordinary results, it is a stupendous results, it is a great result for Scott Morrison and the rest of the Liberal team, and Scott Morrisson will quite rightly enter the Liberal Pantheon forever," Abbott said, conceding his defeat. According to last week's Newspoll survey, even though Labor took the swing in its favour, the leader approval rating favoured Morrison with 45 per cent saying he would make a better prime minister as compared to Shorten. Anger over the government's inaction on climate change is said to prove the real difference between the two parties. Australia has experienced some of the worst effects of climate change in recent few years, from deadly bush fires to the destruction of natural wonders like the Great Barrier Reef. Concern about climate change is now at a 10-year high among Australians, with 64 per cent believing it should be a top priority for the government, according to an Ipsos poll released in April. The Labor party is promising to cut Australia's carbon emissions by 45 per cent on 2005 levels, compared to the government's minimum pledge of 26 per cent. Australia has compulsory voting and a complex system of ballots ranked by voter preference. The political, economic and cultural differences varies from state to state on the vast island-continent.

Catch up on all the latest Crime, National, International and Hatke news here. Also download the new mid-day Android and iOS apps to get latest updates </s> Scott Morrison has swept to victory in a sensational federal election result that defied the polls and cements the Coalition's power.

The Coalition is on track to win government, fending off Labor and Bill Shorten's efforts to take over as prime minister.

As it stands, the Coalition is headed to form a minority government at least, but could still reach the 76 seats needed to form a majority government.

The bombshell triumph comes after repeated polls placed the ALP ahead of the Morrison government, and the Prime Minister's demise appeared assured.

Swings to the Coalition in Queensland turned the election on its head as early figures suggested the Government could hold on.

Election experts said there would be no clear government tonight.

Labor scrutineers told news.com.au older voters have punished the party for its higher-taxing agenda. States where the economy is not thriving - such as Queensland, WA and country areas - have backed the Liberals' agenda focused on the economy and jobs.

"A bold agenda is now dead forever in Australia," a Labor scrutineer says as it became clear the election was turning against Shorten.

As the votes came in confidence began to grown among Liberal surpporters. At the official Liberal Party function in Sydney exuberant young Liberal supporters were heard chanting that the Liberals were "an election winning machine".

"Labor used to be party for the workers, now it's a party for people who don't work," one said.

Although former PM Tony Abbott lost his seat of Warringah to independent Zali Steggall, the Wentworth by-election result was reversed, with Liberal Dave Sharma reclaiming the old seat of Malcolm Turnbull from the woman who defeated him in October, Dr Kerryn Phelps.

But the swing against Labor in Queensland was devastating.

The Australian's columnist Troy Bramston says Labor figures are "stunned and shocked" at the result currently unfolding, which pretty much nobody expected.

"It looks like a diabolical night for the party," Bramston said.

ABC political editor Andrew Probyn says Labor sources are telling him their chances have been "killed" by the Coalition's preference deals with Clive Palmer's United Australia Party and Pauline Hanson's One Nation.

Results then began flowing in from the west.

Labor's Anny Aly has held on in the West Australian seat of Cowan while Patrick Gorman has also retained the seat of Perth.

The Liberal Party was won Swan, with Steve Irons being re-elected.

And Attorney-General Christian Porter has won his tough race in Pearce. Fellow minister Ken Wyatt has held on in Hasluck.

Labor gained Chisolm in Victoria. That's the seat former Liberal Julia Banks held, before deciding to contest Flinders instead. Health Minister Greg Hunt defeated her there.

The Nationals have held Cowper, fending off Rob Oakeshott.

In the days before the eleciton news.com.au's State of the Nation survey placed the Coalition ahead, however, with about 32 per cent saying the Coalition would get their vote, compared to 26 per cent for Labor.

Mr Morrison has also consistently beaten Mr Shorten in the polls as preferred PM, at 58 per cent in the State of the Nation survey compared to 42 per cent for Mr Shorten.

Labor has repeatedly beaten the Coalition in Newspoll surveys, but its leader's approval ratings trailed behind. Last week's poll showed only 38 per cent of respondents thought Mr Shorten would make the better PM to Mr Morrison's 45 per cent, although 51 per cent backed Labor to 49 per cent supporting the Coalition in the two-party preferred vote.

It was a tight race, but the news is a huge blow for Mr Shorten, who had worked hard to rehabilitate his image and appeared to grow in confidence during the campaign. His second election failure is almost certain to spell the end of his leadership, while Mr Morrison will be relieved he has helped the Coalition edge over the line to return for a third term in government.

Mr Morrison's landmark achievement has up-ended almost all commentators' predictions, proving polls and general consensus are not always correct, following a pattern of recent global surprises - including the UK's Brexit vote and the election of Donald Trump as US President.

The Prime Minister repeatedly emphasised the Coalition's strength on the economy, promising income tax cuts and lower bills while playing down the threat of climate change.

Mr Morrison was a controversial Immigration Minister under Tony Abbott after the 2013 election, implementing Operation Sovereign Borders before becoming Social Services Minister in a 2014 reshuffle. The MP for Cook in New South Wales was promoted to Treasurer when Malcolm Turnbull became prime minister in 2015, and stepped in as the compromise candidate after a Peter Dutton challenge in August 2018.

But it seems he has been underestimated. After nine months in the job, Mr Morrison has been given the seal of approval by Australia. </s> With so many gains for the Coalition and so few for Labor, Mr Shorten's hopes of becoming Prime Minister receded as election night went on. The Coalition, which has trailed Labor in the polls throughout its turbulent time in government, went in to the campaign with 74 seats and added to that tally across Queensland, where it defeated Labor in Longman and Herbert. The Coalition also wrested the Tasmanian seat of Braddon from Labor and appeared likely to claim the neighbouring electorate of Bass as well. The Coalition and Labor teams were anxiously waiting on results from Western Australia to be sure of the outcome. The Coalition's gains left Labor clutching to the hope of negotiating with crossbench MPs to hold government in a hung Parliament. With the electorate enduring more than a decade of unprecedented parliamentary bloodletting - Australia has had seven Prime Ministers in 11 years - many neutral observers were hoping for a period of political stability.

However, the result shows the nation is divided along geographic and ideological lines with Mr Abbott declaring a political "realignment" with Labor making gains in progressive wealthy seats and the Coalition doing better in working class areas. A group of key independents could still hold the key to power. Mr Abbott said the Coalition would be able to retain government even though he conceded he would lose his seat of Warringah, a safe Liberal electorate for years that came under attack from independent candidate Zali Steggall and her campaign for more action on climate change. "The good news is that there is every chance the Liberal National Coalition has won this election," Mr Abbott said. "This is a really extraordinary result, it is a stupendous result, it is a great result for Scott Morrison and the rest of the Liberal team, and Scott Morrison will quite rightly enter the Liberal pantheon forever."

In western Sydney, the electorate of Lindsay fell to the Liberals while the neighbouring electorate of Macquarie appeared to be shifting in the same way. In eastern Sydney, the Liberal Party was confident of regaining the blue-ribbon seat of Wentworth with Liberal candidate Dave Sharma ahead of independent MP Kerryn Phelps, who gained the seat at a byelection last year. The outcomes give the Coalition a narrow majority in the House of Representatives unless it suffers the loss of other seats. Labor gained the seat of Gilmore on the NSW South Coast and the two Victorian seats of Chisholm and Dunkley. Bill Shorten with his wife Chloe on election day. Early in the night, Mr Shorten appeared to be on track to become Australia's 31st prime minister after an exit poll predicted a swing to Labor, with voters naming health and climate change as key factors in their decisions.

While Labor Party members were buoyant before the early count, Mr Morrison expressed caution about his chances, saying he made "no assumptions" about holding on to power. While the Liberal Party appeared likely to regain Wentworth, independent MPs made gains elsewhere with Victorian independent Helen Haines on track to win Indi and succeed former independent MP Cathy McGowan. Combined with the victory for Ms Steggall, the election appears to leave Parliament with a crossbench that includes Greens MP Adam Bandt, Tasmanian independent Andrew Wilkie, Queenslander Bob Katter, South Australian Rebekha Sharkie as well as Ms Steggall and Dr Haines. Mr Wilkie has ruled out doing any deal with a minority government while Mr Katter has backed the Coalition in the past. Others have named climate change policy as a factor in their decisions on whether to support a minority government on votes of confidence and supply.

The government's 74 seats in the House of Representatives was down from the 76 it won at the last election due to the departure of former Liberal MP Julia Banks to the crossbench and the arrival of independent MP Kerryn Phelps in Wentworth. Labor started with 69 seats from the last Parliament. Bill Shorten and wife Chloe, left, and Scott Morrison and wife Jenny, right, vote on Saturday. Labor described its election effort as its largest "field campaign" in history, putting more than 25,000 volunteers into the field to knock on more than one million doors. Labor claimed its supporters made more than one million phone calls to urge Australians to back their party. Activist group GetUp said it had mobilised more than 9000 volunteers who had worked on the ground, with a wider group of helpers making more than 700,000 phone calls during the campaign. The ACTU had about 5000 volunteers working during the campaign.

Mr Shorten began the final day of the campaign by urging Australians to change the government because Labor would act on climate change, spend more on health, restore stability after the leadership division within the Liberal Party and improve fairness by scaling back tax concessions for the wealthy. He visited Melbourne electorates after an early morning run wearing a t-shirt that asked people to vote for "Chloe Shorten's husband" – an acknowledgement of his wife's importance to his campaign. Mr Morrison campaigned at a more hectic pace by flying to Tasmania on Saturday morning to woo voters in the marginal seat of Bass before heading to Sydney for the remainder of the day. The Coalition adopted the same approach the previous day with a relentless tour through Queensland marginal seats.

"I already feel a responsibility to millions of people to win. But sure, I want to do it for Bob, as well," Mr Shorten said on Thursday. "I don't want to let his memory down." </s> Australian opposition leader Bill Shorten has conceded defeat to Prime Minister Scott Morrison in the country’s general election.

Mr Shorten made the announcement to supporters of his opposition Labour Party late on Saturday night in Melbourne.

He said: “It is obvious that Labour will not be able to form the next government and so, in the national interest, a short while ago, I called Scott Morrison to congratulate him.”

Poll forecasts give 74 seats in the 151-seat lower parliamentary house to Mr Morrison’s conservative Liberal-National party coalition, with 65 seats to Labour and 12 undecided.

The Channel 9 network gave 73 seats to the coalition, 61 to Labour, with 17 undecided.

A total of 76 seats are needed to form a majority government. </s> related media assets (image or videos) available. Click to see the gallery.

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Australian Treasurer Scott Morrison will become Australia's new prime minister after winning a Liberal party leadership vote on Friday, ending an internecine battle that has scarred the conservative government ahead of an election due by May 2019.

CANBERRA: Incoming Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison promised generational change in the warring Liberal party on Friday, seeking to end an internecine battle that has scarred the conservative government ahead of an election due by May 2019.

Morrison, who was treasurer under outgoing prime minister Malcolm Turnbull, emerged the surprise winner in a three-way challenge for the leadership of the Liberal party brought on by a right-wing rival this week.

"Our job ... as we take forward this mantle of leadership as a new generation, is to ensure that we not only bring our party back together, which has been bruised and battered this week, but that ... we bring the parliament back together," Morrison said in his first appearance after his party-room victory.

"The new generation of Liberal leadership is on your side", he told Australian voters, many of whom are angry and frustrated with a decade of political instability in which no sitting prime minister has lasted a full term.

Morrison will be Australia's sixth prime minister in less than 10 years when he is sworn in around 6pm (0800 GMT) on Friday. He ruled out calling an election in the near term but will still face an early electoral test.

Outgoing prime minister Turnbull is set to resign from parliament, forcing a by-election in his blue-ribbon Sydney seat that could risk the government's one-seat majority.

Turnbull blamed his demise on "vengeance, personal ambition, factional feuding" in his party, led by conservative lawmakers including former prime minister Tony Abbott, the man he toppled in a party-room coup in September 2015.

"Australians will be dumbstruck and so appalled at the conduct of the past week," said Turnbull.

Liberal party member Warren Enserch said after the leadership vote: "This revolving door of prime ministers has got to stop".

The Liberal party is the senior partner in the Liberal-National coalition government that has consistently trailed opposition Labor in opinion polls in recent months. Bookmakers on Friday had Labour a favourite to win the next poll.

Morrison's victory marks the chance for a break from a decade of leadership clashes between Turnbull and Abbott in both government and opposition, but ideological divisions in the party over issues such as climate change, energy policy, immigration and even globalisation remain stark.

Indeed, after Foreign Minister Julie Bishop was eliminated after the first round of the leadership ballot, Morrison only defeated Peter Dutton, his more conservative rival, by 45 votes to 40. Three changed votes would have altered the result.

Dutton was at the centre of the political turmoil this week. Seeking to head off his push for the top job, Turnbull unexpectedly called a leadership vote at a Liberal party meeting on Tuesday and won 48 to 35.

The victory margin was seen as unconvincing and Dutton and his influential supporters regrouped and pressed for a second vote, and seemed to be building momentum. Morrison emerged on Thursday as a candidate and quickly won favour with moderates.

While originally from the conservative wing of the Liberal party, Morrison is widely seen as a centrist and has rejected prominent right-wing policies, including limits on immigration.

"He is the compromise candidate, a bridge between the conservative and moderate wings of the party," said Haydon Manning, a political science professor at Flinders University in South Australia state.

"He can heal the wounds that threatened to fracture the coalition government and allow the government time to prepare for an election," he said.

But Morrison faces a series of policy decisions that could reopen old wounds within the government, including an impasse on energy, a topic that acted as a catalyst in Turnbull's demise.

Turnbull this week sought to placate conservative anger by stripping requirements for reducing greenhouse emissions from his centrepiece energy policy but the influential right-wing government lawmakers remain opposed to the policy.

Morrison will therefore need to find a way to meet Australia's commitment to reduce emissions by 26 percent from 2005 levels by 2030 under the Paris accord without stoking old divisions, a challenge Turnbull said would be difficult.

"The truth is that the coalition finds it very hard to get agreement on anything to do with emissions," said Turnbull.

Morrison's victory was welcomed by financial markets, which have been shaken by the political instability. Australian shares edged higher on Friday, rebounding after three days of losses that saw the benchmark fall 1.5 percent.

"PM Morrison is the most market-friendly option," said Annette Beacher, Chief Asia-Pac Macro Strategist at TD Securities in Singapore.

However, Beacher said markets would be looking to see whether Morrison can narrow the gap with opposition Labor.

"The skew towards the Labor party at this stage ensures they will form government at the next election," she said.

It was also hoped Morrison would end the political instability that has plagued Australia.

"The political turmoil of the past decade has come at the cost of our global competitiveness ... the business community needs policy certainty to promote investment and improve business confidence." said Tony Johnson, chief executive officer of Ernest & Young. </s> news, national

A disappointed Bill Shorten has conceded defeat in Saturday's federal election and announced he will stand down as Labor leader. "I wish we could have formed a government for these Australians on this evening," he told supporters at the Labor function in Melbourne. "I wish we could have won for the true believers, for our brothers and sisters in the mighty trade union movement. "I wish we could have done it for Bob," he said, referring to former prime minister Bob Hawke who died last Thursday. Mr Shorten, with his wife by his side, said he would remain as the member for Maribyrnong but would not be a candidate in the next Labor leadership ballot. "Labor's next victory will belong to our next leader and I'm confident that victory will come at the next election," he said. He said he had called Scott Morrison to congratulate him on a win for the coalition, conceding Labor did not have the seats to win. Labor had picked up only 65 so far of the 76 needed to form a majority government, while the coalition was sitting on 74. "Without wanting to hold out any false hope, while there are still million of votes to count, it is obvious Labor will not be able to form the next government," he told Labor supporters. He wished Mr Morrison and his family well. "Above all, I wished Scott Morrison good fortune and good courage in the service of our great nation," he said. "The national interest required no less." He urged Labor supporters to continue the fight. "We cannot change the past but my word we can change the future." Australian Associated Press

https://nnimgt-a.akamaihd.net/transform/v1/crop/frm/silverstone-feed-data/73609dc0-d4bf-481c-bd6c-c7624eb6ff02.jpg/r0_74_800_526_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg
Prime Minister Scott Morrison declares victory. It remains unclear whether his Liberal-National Coalition has won a majority of seats, or whether it will form a minority government.