About a dozen seats remain up for grabs as Labor continues to bask in a stunning election victory and the Coalition licks its wounds.
With more than 77 percent of votes tallied early today, Labor had captured 86 seats, the Coalition had secured seats as well, independents held eight, and other parties, including the Green, claimed three seats.
But for MPs and candidates in 13 seats they face anxious waits over the coming hours before the final results are determined.
One of these is the Melbourne seat of Goldstein, a former stronghold for the Liberals, where the party’s challenger, Tim Wilson, is aiming to dethrone the incumbent teal, Zoe Daniel.
With 79 per cent of votes counted, she holds a slender lead of less than 100 votes over Wilson, the former Goldstein MP.
On the other side of the city in Kooyong, another teal MP, Monique Ryan, is striving to defend her seat against Liberal challenger Amelia Hamer after a tough campaign.
In a social media post today, Ryan says the result is too close to call.
“It will take some days – possibly some weeks – for the outcome to be confirmed,” she posted on X.
Voters in the seat of Melbourne also also handed Greens leader Adam Bandt a struggle for political survival, where there was a 5.4 per cent swing to Labor.
Today it looks like Bandt will retain the seat on what has been a mixed election result for the Greens.
Meanwhile, in Western Australia, one Labor MP must be feeling the odd man out from his party’s thumping victory.
Josh Wilson, the sitting member for Fremantle and junior climate change minister, is fighting to keep his political career alive as Climate 200-backed independent Kate Hulett strives to take the seat.
The latest polling data from yesterday showed a 5 per cent drop in Labor support with 75 per cent of the vote counted.
An independent is also threatening to capture the notionally safe outer suburban seat of Bradfield in north-west Sydney, which was held by retiring Liberal MP Paul Fletcher.
Teal candidate Nicolette Boelle and Liberal candidate Gisele Kapterian are locked in a titanic struggle after a 3.9 per cent swing to Boelle.
The other seats where the result remains too close to call are Bean in the ACT, Bendigo, Monash and Flinders in Victoria, Franklin in Tasmania, Queensland’s Longman, and Bullwinkel in WA.
