Here’s what you need to know.

When will vote counting start?

All ballots cast near a voter’s designated home division on the election day, alongside most pre-poll votes for the House of Representatives, will begin to be tallied from 6pm AEST tonight.

This process involves an initial count of first preference votes followed by a two-candidate preferred count, which offers an early insight into who is likely to win each seat.

When will counts be reported?

The Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) said that smaller polling places will have results posted from around 7pm local time with mid to large-sized polling places from around 8 to 8.30pm local time onwards.

Senate results can only be calculated and declared after a process of scanning and verifying of ballot papers is completed, which can take a number of weeks.

When will the overall result be called?

They can generally give a projection of which party is likely to form government sometime tonight.