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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
National
Helen Davidson

Officials add to confusion over Senate voting paper – voting day as it happened

A look back at Australia’s 2016 general election campaign

That’s it from me. Katharine Murphy is over here to take you through the important part of the evening in what is also her final outing for Politics Live. A big day for everyone.

I hope you all enjoyed your day of democracy and sausages. You should all be proud of this marathon eight-week effort, and may it never happen again.

Over and out, for now.

Helen

Updated

Paul Karp is traveling with the opposition leader today.

Bill Shorten has gone into Moonee Ponds West primary school to vote.

He handed out how to votes along a very long queue against the school fence. When he reached the back a volunteer gave him a coffee and journos got a few snaps of him at the back but an AEC official has now whisked him inside to vote without the wait.

A young man in a hoodie approached the line in horror at about the same time “You’re not telling me I have to wait in that? what’s the fine again, $25?”

He clearly has no intention of voting if this is the wait. But seeing the scrum of media and advancers, advisers and volunteers he hatches a new plan: walking into the booth past the line talking loudly on his phone.

Evidently being opposition leader is not the only way to skip the queue.

Joyce 'confident but not cocky'

Nationals leader and deputy prime minister, Barnaby Joyce, has voted at Wolbrook. He’s facing potential defeat - it’s hard to know - after a shock return from former independent Tony Windsor.

It’s been one of the most heated of the campaign battles around the country, with past discretions dragged to the fore, sly accusations, and a lot of mud-slinging.

Here, Joyce addresses media after casting his vote. He hopes he wins, obviously, but says the job is a contract with the Australian people, it’s not a job for life.

This campaign I think is going to be tight. I’ve never thought otherwise. I’ve always believed these campaigns go down to the wire. If you’ve got 10 people and six vote for you they say that’s a landslide. If only four vote for you you’ve been annihilated. The difference between the two is one vote or you’re dead tied. And that’s politics.

We’ll see tonight how it goes. Obviously all the the rhetoric stops now - there’s no point. People have made up their mind and the vast majority have now voted.

I hope the nation gets a clear run of it. I hope the nation is left in a position where it can govern itself... so we can deliver on the things we promised.”

In case you just can’t get enough of polls:

... and in case those polls just weren’t niche enough for you:

Back on the issue of the Senate voting confusion. I’ve gotten my hands on the official AEC instructions, and it seems like some volunteers are leaving out a key sentence.

This is what they should be saying:

“For the House of Representatives, complete the ballot paper by placing a number one in the box next to the candidate you most prefer and numbering all other boxes in the order of your choice.

For the Senate, complete the ballot paper by numbering one to six above the line OR by numbering one to twelve below the line, in order of your choice. You can continue numbering as many additional boxes as you choose.

If you make a mistake and need another ballot paper bring it back to me and I will give you another one.”

Every election seems to involve some accusations of foul play, even violence. As far as I’ve seen, has been relatively quiet. Unless you’re in Higgins.

The electorate of Liberal assistant treasurer Kelly O’Dwyer, is the subject of another incident today. Earlier there were reports of an altercation between a voter and one of O’Dwyer’s security staff.

Now, Fairfax reports police are investigating allegations a man bit a Greens volunteer who was sitting in her car at about 9pm last night outside a public school. From Fairfax:

The men allegedly made comments about election material for the hotly contested seat of Higgins, where a “green army” of volunteers spent the night capturing the best spots for election posters, before the woman attempted to take their photo.

A Victoria Police spokeswoman said a struggle took place, and the Greens volunteer was allegedly bitten, before the two unknown men drove off in a white SUV.

If only all seats could be like this one.

A number of you have gotten in touch with your own experience with AEC officials and their inconsistent advice on the new Senate voting process. Many people are being told to number six (above the line) and 12( below the line), without the extra information that that is a minimum.

Even the deputy Liberal leader, Julie Bishop, has been given inaccurate instructions. It was caught on video by Sky News (hat tip to Twitter user Jeff Venables for that).

Some have pointed out that you can actually number less than six above the line and it will still count due to a safety loophole. It’s all very confusing.

We have reporters on the case to dig into this issue, finding out what the instructions should be, why some people are being told otherwise, and how it will affect people’s votes.

In the meantime, here are some of your responses so far.

Bill Shorten has touched down in Victoria, on the way to his home seat of Maribyrnong. Before he left Western Sydney, he gave a doorstop at Bennett Public School in Colyton in Lindsay, a marginal held by the Liberals’ Fiona Scott.

Answering a question about being one point down, Shorten said “Well, I am absolutely sure Labor is closing at the right time.”

He also addressed the rising vote of the minor parties and independents. Of course, he didn’t accept they were taking votes off Labor, instead blaming the government:
“what I know is that there is dissatisfaction with the government and there is a general exhaustion in the community about governments and political parties who make promises and don’t keep them.”

After the press conference Shorten greeted a long queue of waiting voters with Labor candidate Emma Husar.

He hopped back on the Bill bus, and I got to chatting with some of the volunteers handing out how to vote cards outside.

Shaun was handing out for independent conservative Marcus Cornish, who has stirred up trouble for Scott over her decision to back Malcolm Turnbull in the September leadership ballot.

“I’m handing out for Marcus because Fiona Scott backstabbed Tony Abbott. They only replaced him because they were scared of losing the election, not because they disagreed with anything he did.”

What would’ve happened if the Coalition had stayed with Abbott though? “Abbott would’ve won. His name was in the paper every day, some bad, some good, but people knew what he stood for and he was getting things done,” Shaun said.

Deputy Liberal leader, Julie Bishop, has cast her vote in the Perth seat of Curtin.

Bishop urged crossbenchers to respect the will of the Australian people and back tax cuts if the Turnbull government is re-elected, AAP reports.

Bishop was joined by her partner David Panton and his two daughters and Senator Michaelia Cash.

“The coalition, if we win, will have the support of the Australian people to implement the very positive economic plan that will underpin the future of this country,” she told reporters at Swanbourne Primary School.

“The Australian people are making a very serious decision today about the future of our country and I hope the crossbenchers, I hope the independents, I hope the Greens and every other minor party listen to the will of the Australian people.”

Bishop criticised Labor over a plane flying over Perth with a banner saying a vote for the Opposition would stop Medicare being privatised, which she said was a lie.

I’ve been lax in bringing you one of the biggest stories of the day, and for that I do apologise.

The policy announcements are well and truly over, and today is about the meet and greets, the local colour, and of course the sausage sizzles. Both our leaders have made controversial choices in the latter.

Bill Shorten is copping a bit of flak for his, um, unorthodox manner of eating said sizzle.

At least he had one.

Thankfully, no raw onions in sight though.

The longest limerick in election history

Mike Bowers, you may have noticed, hasn’t stopped moving in eight weeks. He’s bounced from the PM to the opposition leader, flown more than 57,000 kilometres criss-crossing the country and taken in excess of 30,000photos. Below is a selection, but please do check out his photo essay of the campaign here, it’s truly fantastic.

Most elections have their own cadence, a rhythm directed by the party and the machine around the campaign. It is mostly, however, dictated by the internal metronome of the leader. Some rattle along like a bush ballad, others have been more like free verse (such as the last, experimental days of Kevin Rudd’s 2013 campaign). This campaign has been more primary school limerick than haiku – the longest limerick in Australian electoral history.”

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull tours flood affected areas around La Trobe where the road was ripped up by the flood in Tasmania this morning, Thursday 9th June 2016.
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull tours flood affected areas around La Trobe where the road was ripped up by the flood in Tasmania this morning, Thursday 9th June 2016. Photograph: Mike Bowers for the Guardian

My favourite picture of Bill Shorten is the one of him with a crocodile (below) because it reminded me of the song ‘Never smile at a crocodile’.”

Opposition leader Bill Shorten handles a baby croc during a visit to Maningrida 500km east of Darwin this morning, Friday 27th May 2016.
Opposition leader Bill Shorten handles a baby croc during a visit to Maningrida 500km east of Darwin this morning, Friday 27th May 2016. Photograph: Mike Bowers for the Guardian

My favourite shot of Malcolm is the one of him wearing black glasses (below). I was in the worst position possible at the time, but he bent down and I was one of the few people who was able to capture an image.”

The Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull at a campaign event to announce funding and support for STEM ( Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) here he tries on prototype glasses “Aipoly” that recognises and identifies objects for visually impaired people, Monday 6th June 2016.
The Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull at a campaign event to announce funding and support for STEM ( Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) here he tries on prototype glasses “Aipoly” that recognises and identifies objects for visually impaired people, Monday 6th June 2016. Photograph: Mike Bowers for the Guardian

You win some, you lose some.

Greens leader Richard Di Natale is about to make his final campaign stop of the day, at Brunswick North primary school in the Victorian electorate of Wills. He’s supporting Greens candidate Samantha Ratnam, a project manager for the asylum seeker resource centre.

It’s considered a very safe Labor seat, but Labor’s Kelvin Thomson is retiring after holding the seat since 1996, and the Greens vote rose in this electorate in 2013. Labor’s candidate for 2016 is former SBS executive and national security advisor to Kevin Rudd, Peter Khalil.

The ABC’s electorate profile of Wills describes the challenge Ratnam will face: “Green chances of winning Wills currently lag slightly behind Batman. The Labor vote has not declined as much in Wills, and to date the Greens have not outpolled the Liberal Party. The Greens pulled into second place on preferences in 2013, thanks to the donkey vote and receiving 65% of Sex Party preferences, a flow that appears unlikely to be repeated in 2016.

“Without Liberal preferences the Greens cannot win Wills without outpolling Labor on first preferences. Following the close of nominations, the Liberal Party announced it would put Labor ahead of the Greens on all how-to-vote material, almost certainly ending Green chances of winning Wills.”

Prior to this stop Di Natale was in the marginal Labor seat of Melbourne Ports, which hasn’t had as much attention as other electorates the Greens are vying for despite requiring the least swing to get them over the line. According to Fairfax, four men were arrested overnight for allegedly vandalising Greens campaign posters throughout the electorate.

Voters in the line at Albert Park Primary School faced a half-hour wait, giving them “plenty of time to read about jobs and growth,” a Liberal party volunteers handing out how-to-vote cards said. People didn’t seem to be too excited by Di Natale as they were in the electorates of Higgins and batman he visited earlier in the day. No doubt some were grumpy at the long wait and lack of sausage-sizzle or cake stalls.

Tonight Di Natale and Greens candidates will head to the Forum Theatre in Melbourne to watch the votes roll in and find out whether the Greens only member in the lower house, Adam bandt, will retain his seat and have others from his party to keep him company.

Updated

Queensland state premier, Annastacia Palaszczuk, says she’s concerned Pauline Hanson could be a divisive force in Australian politics if she claims one of the state’s 12 Senate spots.

Palaszczuk spent Saturday morning visiting polling booths with Labor’s Oxley candidate Milton Dick, and said she was “very worried” about the rise of minor parties, including Hanson’s One Nation, who she said had the ability to be “very divisive”.

“At a time when we need Australia to come together, I hope that if she does get elected that she respects individuals from across different groups.”

Despite backing Opposition Leader Bill Shorten, Palaszczuk said she was prepared to work with Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull as well.

“They (both) recognise how important Queensland is,” she said.

“We’re a very decentralised state.

“I think both leaders spending time here would have sent a very clear message to them that the needs of Gladstone are completely different to the needs of Cairns, to the needs of Townsville, to the needs of the southeast.”

Updated

Not all candidates are as media-shy as the prime minister.

Gay Alcorn received some concerning advice from an AEC official when she went to vote. It seems some officials – stationed at polling booths to, in part, answer our questions – aren’t fully informed about the new voting procedure.

Quite a few people have responded to say they’ve also received inaccurate advice. If this includes you, let Gay or me know on Twitter.

Under the Senate voting change, you are now supposed to number at least six boxes above the line, or at least 12 boxes below the line.

Updated

Bill Shorten has finished school visits in Western Sydney in Reid, Lindsay, Greenway and Macquarie, Paul Karp reports.

The Shorten bus (well, the journos thereon) will take off from Richmond airforce base then off to a school in Moonee Ponds in Shorten’s Melbourne electorate of Maribyrnong.

Our photographer Jonny Weeks has been out in Manly, Sydney, where voters have been turning up in all kinds of gear. No sign of Tony Abbott yet though – he’s avoiding us, we’re told.

The view outside Queenscliff Surf Life Saving Club where voters and campaigners are out in force.
The view outside Queenscliff Surf Life Saving Club where voters and campaigners are out in force. Photograph: The Guardian
This guy has come fresh from the surf.
This guy has come fresh from the surf. Photograph: Jonny Weeks for the Guardian
People casting their votes for the general election at Queenscliff Surf Life Saving Club in Manly, Sydney, Australia, on 2 July 2016. Photo by Jonny Weeks for The Guardian.
People casting their votes for the general election at Queenscliff Surf Life Saving Club in Manly, Sydney, Australia, on 2 July 2016. Photo by Jonny Weeks for The Guardian.

Updated

Things are getting seriously weird in Grayndler.

Malcolm Turnbull has gone rogue

After he voted in Double Bay this morning the PM’s staff told journalists he was done for the day, and was catching a ferry home to relax with family in Point Piper.

So the media bus went back to the hotel in Sydney’s CBD.

But the PM has travelled to Parramatta, in western Sydney, and then slipped onto a train and headed to Penrith – without any media with him.

His official Twitter account is happily cataloguing the entire thing. His staff aren’t taking calls.

Labor staffers know he’s in western Sydney now and have told their volunteers to be on the look-out for any PM advancers (the staff who travel ahead of the prime minister to make sure the coast is clear).

Updated

There’s a very tight race in Solomon, between incumbent CLP Natasha Griggs, and Labor challenger Luke Gosling.

Gosling this morning told voters Labor won’t win federally if he doesn’t get across the line in the Northern Territory seat, and Griggs said she hopes her chances haven’t been hurt by the scandal plagued NT government.

At least one voter has responded to it all with a resounding ‘meh’.

PM dodges press

We thought Turnbull was done for the day, since the media bus dropped all the journos off in the Sydney CBD and took off. But he’s taken himself off to Western Sydney - on public transport of course.

Press pack now madly in pursuit, and Gareth Hutchens will bring us more info shortly.

Assistant treasurer, Kelly O’Dwyer, is the subject of a bit of controversy during this election campaign.

Fairfax is reporting on accusations of an altercation between the Liberal MP’s security staff and a voter who confronted O’Dwyer about asylum seeker policy at a Malvern early polling booth on Tuesday.

According to the report a woman approached her and asked if she supported children being in detention. The woman alleges a security guard grabbed her by the hip and moved her away. Police said they have conflicting accounts and no official statement, but they are aware of the incident.

It has been a difficult week for O’Dwyer, who has faced questions about campaign advertising and been embarrassed by a Twitter investigation into why the Liberal party claimed copyright over photos that allegedly belonged to Fairfax in order to have them removed from the social network.

O’Dwyer hold on the seat of Higgins is under threat by the Greens, who are hoping to nab another Melbourne lower house seat, , Melissa Davey reports.

It will be significant if Greens candidate Jason Ball turns the Liberal seat Green.

Party leader Richard Di Natale spent the latter part of the morning with Ball campaigning outside South Toorak library, and the building with plastered with Ball posters and surrounded by Greens volunteers.

The few Liberal campaigners were outnumbered; “vote for jobs and growth” one said half-heartedly, thrusting a how-to-vote card towards a voter.

Davey took a few seconds to ask Ball why Liberal voters would turn towards the Greens.

The cake stall puns are in fine form today. Well done, Australia.

Mike Bowers was in Double Bay with the PM this morning. A man of many talents, and carrying the kit to match, Bowers has also filed some video footage as well as photos.

Here, Malcolm and Lucy Turnbull cast their votes, with a little confusion.

The Australian federal election gets the Google doodle treatment.

It’s cute. But I can’t help feel they didn’t put a whole lot of effort in.

The Turnbull camp has already wrapped things up for the day.

The PM cast his vote at 9.30am at Double Bay Public School, then ducked off for coffee in nearby Paddington.

His staff said he may be catching a ferry home now.

So that’s it, as far as his public campaign goes.

Meanwhile, Bill Shorten is on Sky News giving a live press conference from Lindsay in western Sydney. Taking multiple questions from journalists, making his case for a Labor government. He says the Turnbull campaign has been a lazy one.

“There is dissatisfaction about the government,” he says.

But back in the eastern suburbs of Sydney, the atmosphere is relaxed and Saturday morning-like. Very well-dressed locals are lining up to vote. Numerous well-groomed dogs are sniffing about. A light breeze blows in from the Harbour.

Melissa Davey has been trailing Greens leader Richard Di Natale.

More than 30,000 doors have been knocked by Greens supporters in the Victorian electorate of Batman, the party’s candidate Alex Bhathal has said as she handed out how-to-vote cards at St Joseph the Worker in Reservoir North.

This is the fifth time she’s running, and she’s up against Labor’s embattled sitting member David Feeney. If she wins, she’ll be the first member to have actually lived in the seat in the last 20 years.

Greens leader Richard Di Natale’s first stop on election day was with Bhatal, and he spoke to community, which has a large number of people with Italian ancestry, in Italian and explained how to vote in the language. He handed out how-to-vote cards and bit into a breakfast snag.

“What I’ve really noticed here is that it looks like Labor have given up,” he said, after casting his vote. “We got here at eight in the morning and there wasn’t a Labor person in sight while people were queuing up. That says everything you need to know how seriously they take this community.”

Bhathal has run a strong grassroots campaign in the electorate with about 1000 volunteers, and her posters are plastered everywhere, in front yards and on fences. A number of those signs have been defaced, something Bhathal said didn’t worry her. There were a number of Labor members who thought they were “entitled” to the seat, she said.

She also spoke about a number of Italian grandmothers who had phoned her throughout her campaign.

“I’ve realised once you’ve got the nonnas of Darebin on your side it’s hard to not win,” she said.

“Some of the things they’ve phoned me about are the fairer treatment of asylum seekers. They’re really upset and distressed by what they’re seeing on Nauru and Manus Island. An Italian grandmother rang me just a few weeks ago to tell me that her grandson - she’s terribly proud of him - that he’s gay, and that she’s voting Greens because she wants him to be happy in his life.”

You can read a profile my colleague, Calla Wahlquist, wrote about the electorate here. It’s certainly one to watch as the votes roll in.

It’s time for another check on the state of democracy and the food it brings us.

From Guardian Australia news editor and resident dad joke correspondent, Mike Ticher:

Environment reporter Michael Slezak monitors the warming levels in Double Bay.

And from data and interactives editor, Nick “two snags” Evershed, who’s already had a gourmet democracy sausage:

Updated

Deputy Labor leader Tanya Plibersek has cast her ballot at Darlinghurst Primary School on Saturday morning, saying only Labor could provide strong health, education and workplace policies, AAP reports.

She said the election remained neck and neck, with many voters still to make up their minds.

Plibersek was proud of Labor’s work in opposition over the past three years.

“We are as close today as we were before the 1993 election, the one Paul Keating called the sweetest victory of all,” Plibersek said.

“If we happen to win today after all our hard work, after putting out our 100 positive policies, it’ll be a sweet victory indeed.”

Plibersek encouraged voters to eschew independents as they were rarely scrutinised as well as the two major parties.

And in South Australia, independent Senator Nick Xenophon looks set to be the big winner.

His Nick Xenophon Team is poised to win at least three Senate seats to give it significant influence in the next parliament.

Depending on which opinion poll or analysts are right, the Nick Xenophon Team could get up to 30% of the vote in SA.

His lower house candidates could also cause some upsets with their best chances in the Liberal held seats of Mayo, Barker and Grey.

Xenophon expects his candidates to finish second in several contests, but believes they may be hampered by decisions from the Labor and Liberal camps to preference against him.

Elle Hunt is on electoral puppy watch.

On the suburban streets of inner-west Sydney it seems many voters have fit democracy into their Saturday morning dog walk.

Photos of patient dogs waiting outside polling stations shared on Twitter livened up the wait for the British general election last year, starting a trend that was revisited for the EU referendum last month.

The hashtag #dogsatpollingstations doesn’t seem to have kicked off for the Australian federal election today but that doesn’t mean there isn’t material: at Erskineville public school alone, Guardian Australia’s resident dog spotter counted two shiba inu, a Hungarian puli, a boxer, a Staffordshire bull terrier and an array of miscellaneous white scruffs.

Tweet your sightings to #dogsatpollingstations – if only to move the timeline on from the pictures of sad pooches mourning the vote for Brexit.

Paul Karp is traveling with opposition leader Bill Shorten today.

The first stop for Bill Shorten was Strathfield North Public School, in Reid. Labor candidate Angelo Tsirekas shouted Bill a sausage sandwich. “The taste of democracy!” he exclaimed, a line I expect to hear as he samples wares from across western Sydney.

As journos posted video of Shorten taking a bite, a string of angry tweeters replied angrily questioning why he ate it kind-of sideways-like. It’s election day and everything is polarising, even how a leader eats a sausage sandwich.

Bill dropped into the canteen to thank the volunteers on the cake stall, then went out front to hand out how-to-vote cards for the slight trickle of voters who made it through the media gauntlet.

The Liberal poll captain chucked in a few shouts of “jobs and growth”, upsetting the Labor volunteers who promised to be “more respectful” if their man Malcolm Turnbull showed up.

An angry white woman charged past a Liberal volunteer of Asian background on the way into the polls. “No thank you,” she said tersely, but when the how-to-vote card was still offered, she turned back and shouted “don’t you understand? No thank you!”

It’s too early to be this angry. Perhaps she needs to hit up the cake stall or BBQ for a taste of democracy.

Updated

Windsor will run again if he loses New England

From AAP: Former independent MP Tony Windsor has indicated he will run again if he loses the contest for New England.

Windsor was up early to cast his ballot in his home town of Werris Creek on Saturday morning, saying he was confident he would win.

But the man hoping to unseat Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce for the northern NSW seat said he wouldn’t be shattered and would accept the people’s verdict if he lost.

He wouldn’t rule anything out when asked if he would have another tilt at the next election.

“You haven’t seen the end of me,” Windsor told reporters.

Climate change, water and the impact of mining on agricultural land were longer-term issues that must be addressed.

“I’m serious about these issues - they don’t just end on a Saturday.

Windsor enjoys strong support from voters in his home base, with most openly backing their former representative, who held the seat for more than a decade.

Beth Holley said it was time for Windsor to return to parliament.

“He’s a great man, he’s an honest man,” she said.

Laurence Wilson said Joyce had done nothing for the electorate.

“He just mouths off.”

Ethel Parkes said he didn’t pay much attention to politics but Windsor “had the right idea”.

“He’s my favourite.”

Independent candidate for the seat of New England, Tony Windsor, casts his vote at Werris Creek public school, at Werris Creek, near Tamworth, Saturday, July 2, 2016. Windsor says he is confident he can win the seat from Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce in today’s federal election.
Independent candidate for the seat of New England, Tony Windsor, casts his vote at Werris Creek public school, at Werris Creek, near Tamworth, Saturday, July 2, 2016. Windsor says he is confident he can win the seat from Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce in today’s federal election. Photograph: Dan Himbrechts/AAP

It’s a tough job but someone’s got to do it. Brigid Delaney is hitting the Sydney streets in search of the best polling station grub.

Di Natale has also now cast his vote.

So has former PM, Tony Abbott.

And Bill Shorten is getting the important part of the day done before he steps into a booth.

I earlier noted Shorten was out and about meeting voters this morning. We now have a Turnbull sighting - he’s emerged at a Double Bay primary school to cast his vote.

There are unconfirmed reports he voted above the line.

In case you needed a quick refresher, Gareth Hutchens has taken a look at the key moments of this long, long campaign.

It started scrappily, with a handful of disendorsements and minor gaffes from low-profile candidates.

But it heated up quickly, with federal police raids of Labor offices. It then turned nasty, with the Coalition and Labor ramping up scare campaigns to inflict as much damage as possible on their opponents.

Paul Karp is with the opposition leader, in Reid. Shorten is still campaigning this morning, meeting and greeting voters at polling booths.

Melissa Davey has been trailing Greens leader, Richard Di Natale, in the final days of the campaign.

Di Natale has spent the final days of the campaign in Victoria, where he believes his party has the most chance of picking up seats in the lower house.

This morning, he’ll be casting his vote in Batman, giving a final boost to candidate Alex Bhatal. She hopes to upset sitting Labor MP David Feeney, who has had a bit of a disastrous campaign ever since it was revealed he filed to declare his negatively-geared Northcote property.

Currently, Melbourne MP Adam Bandt holds the Green’s only federal lower house seat. For the past eight weeks, the party been focussing on the surrounding Labor-held electorates of Batman, Wills, and Melbourne Ports, as well as the once safe Liberal seat of Higgins currently held by Kelly O’Dwyer. The party believes that Melbourne and its surrounds are increasingly attracting young progressive voters aligned with Greens policies.

Higgins would be a historic win if Ball manages to turn the traditionally conservative seat Green, and his supporters have been running a strong grass-roots campaign there. Di Natale on Thursday warnedthat Higgins could be “one of the stories of election night,” and it’s likely he’ll be back campaigning there today.

However after preferences the Greens will be lucky to pick up more than one of the seats they’ve set their sights on in Victoria.The party also has high hopes for the Labor-held seats of Grayndler, Sydney and Richmond in NSW, as well as Fremantle in Western Australia. Di Natale has said he believes all of those seats will turn Green, if not this election but in coming elections.

At the very least, Di Natale’s goal is to see his party retain Bandt and its 10 federal senators, and increase its primary vote.

I’ve been travelling around with Di Natale for the past couple of days and while he’s not really at ease with the limelight, he is very comfortable talking to voters at polling stations and in the electorates he visits. Unlike the leaders of the major parties, who have to rush through each stop on the campaign trail before heading onto the next commitment, the former GP takes his time, talking to people, handing out how-to-vote cards, and answering questions about Greens policy. He easily breaks into Italian when meeting fellow speakers of the language, and seems to know a lot of people in the communties he visits.

The aftermath of polling day will reveal whether he’s done enough since becoming Greens leader just over one year ago to convince voters his party are a responsible alternative. He’s positioned himself as a more mainstream leader than his predecessor, Christine Milne, targeting progressive mainstream Australian voters.

You can follow me on Twitter for more updates from the Di Natale campaign trail throughout the day.

Richard Di Natale: I’m most proud of how we have campaigned for refugees

Gabrielle Chan has looked at the final pitches of the two major party leaders, and the prospect of success for Independents and minor party candidates.

Support for minor parties, such as the Nick Xenophon Team (NXT), remains the wildcard in the election along with Jacqui Lambie in Tasmania, Pauline Hanson’s One Nation in Queensland and David Leyonhjelm in New South Wales.

Essential’s Peter Lewis said the poll taken in the last four days showed Xenophon’s primary vote was 21% in South Australia but 1.5% nationally.

The Liberal party has continued to throw everything at the safe National party seat of Cowper, where Rob Oakeshott, the independent is challenging former minister Luke Hartsuyker.

It’s not the size, it’s what you do with it that matters.

On that last post, it would surely be cynical of me to think the switch of Country Liberal how-to-vote cards (directing the second spot to a nationalist anti-Islam party) was made at the last minute to avoid backlash. But it does make me wonder if it’s happening anywhere else in the country. If you have seen anything like it in your own electorate, please do let me know on Twitter.

CLP candidate preferences far right party in last minute change

Country Liberal MP Natasha Griggs is in one of the tightest races of the election, hoping to hold on to the marginal Northern Territory seat of Solomon.

Up until yesterday Griggs’ how-to-vote cards were directing people to place a number 2 next to the Liberal Democrats candidate, but a last minute change has seen fresh cards issued with that second spot going to far-right nationalist party, Rise Up Australia, according to the ABC.

Rise Up Australia was founded by the controversial evangelical pastor, Daniel Nalliah.

Nalliah leads the Catch the Fire ministry in Melbourne, is known for his anti-Islamic and anti-abortion views, and famously blamed the Black Saturday bushfires on Victoria’s abortion laws.

Griggs said the new cards was a party decision, and not her call.

Updated

What are the leaders up to this morning? AAP’s caught up with both Malcolm Turnbull and Bill Shorten’s schedules.

Turnbull will cast his vote in his eastern Sydney seat of Wentworth this morning. He has held the seat since 2004 and a redistribution has firmed his standing even more, to a margin of 18.9%.

Turnbull has been sure to use the last week to remind voters about his government’s economic plan, and has urged people not to lodge a protest vote with Labor, the Greens or independents.

Shorten will whip around polling booths in four western Sydney marginal seats on election day before returning to his home state.

The opposition leader is set to check out the vibe and talk to voters lining up to cast their ballots in the Liberal-held seats of Reid, Lindsay and Macquarie on Saturday morning, and will also pay a visit to Labor’s Michelle Rowland who is facing a tough contest to retain the seat of Greenway.

“I hope we have done enough to earn the votes of the Australian people,” he told reporters in Campbelltown.

“I’m very confident Labor can win this election.”

“The chances of finding out what’s really going on in the universe are so remote, the only thing to do is hang the sense of it and keep yourself occupied.” - Douglas Adams, how on earth does he know so much about Australian elections?

Good morning everyone and welcome to election day!

Eight weeks. One of the longest election campaigns in Australian history is over. You’ve done it.

All that’s left is for you to cast your vote, buy a sausage sizzle, cake, or some other community-fundraising treat, and then sit back and watch broadcast journalists fill hours and hours of television until the outcome is decided.

Which is going to take a while.

The latest Essential poll has the two major parties on an agonisingly close 50.5% to 49.5%, with the Coalition ahead.

I’ll be with you until the polling stations close, then Katharine Murphy will bring you the results, analysis, and big final decision.

Share your election day/democracy sausage news and photos with me. I’m on Twitter @heldavidson, on email, and in the comments. Mike Bowers is with the PM and will bring you photos of his last run around town today.

Updated

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