Update 9.45pm

US President Joe Biden has called Anthony Albanese to congratulate him on his election victory and underline the strength of their countries’ alliance.

Following earlier calls from New Zealand PM Jacinda Ardern and well wishes from Canadian PM Justin Trudeau, Mr Albanese also accepted congratulations from Pacific Island leaders, including Solomon Islands’ Manasseh Sogavare and Fiji’s Frank Bainimarama.

Assuring Mr Albanese of taking Solomon Islands’ relationship with Australia ‘‘to another level’’, Mr Sogavare said “much however, remains to be done”.

Update 4.25pm

One time rising Liberal star Tim Wilson has formally conceded defeat in the Victorian seat of Goldstein, tearfully acknowledging the outcome of the federal election was shattering.

Mr Wilson said that based on a count of a batch of postal votes, it was unlikely he would be able to retain his seat against teal independent Zoe Daniel.

The former coalition Assistant Minister for Industry, Energy and Emissions Reduction suffered a 13.1 per cent swing against him in the former blue-ribbon seat.

“Nobody’s going to pretend that you’re not shattered in events like this,” he told reporters on Sunday.

“If it just happened in Goldstein, you’d say, ‘OK, well, there’s something wrong here’ or something wrong with me, I should say … but we haven’t seen that.”

– Cassandra Morgan, AAP

Update, May 22, 1.12pm

The Liberal Party has started the post-mortem into its devastating election loss as the Australian Electoral Commission continues to count votes.

Senator Simon Birmingham, who will become the leading moderate in the party, told ABC’s Insiders on Sunday that the Coalition’s climate policies and reputation on gender equality were significant factors in the party’s election loss.

“The what and the why are issues such as climate change,” Senator Birmingham said.

“We acknowledge the need for Australia to play a leading role in action around the world and that we get our language as well as our policies right in that space.”

Hours later, outgoing Treasurer Josh Frydenberg conceded that Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s unpopularity may have also contributed to the major swings against the party.

“People did share their views about the Prime Minister at the booths,” he said.

“At the end of the day that may have been one factor but there were others as well.”

Mr Frydenberg is expected to lose the former blue-ribbon Victorian seat of Kooyong to independent Dr Monique Ryan but he has yet to formally concede.

You can read more about the ongoing post-mortem here.

Update: 12.14am

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has congratulated Anthony Albanese on his election as prime minister of Australia.

“Our countries have a long history and a bright future together. As thriving like-minded democracies we work every day to make the world a better, safer, greener and more prosperous place,” Johnson said in a statement.

Update: 11.53pm

Allegra Spender is well ahead of Liberal Dave Sharma in Wentworth but still not prepared to claim the vistory.

Ms Spender has thanked supporters for her “incredible” journey as she stands on the cusp of victory over Liberal incumbent Dave Sharma in the Sydney seat of Wentworth.

Mr Sharma held Wentworth by on margin of 1.3 per cent but faced a strong grassroots campaign by Ms Spender, a well-known local business leader and renewable energy advocate.

At 11.30pm on Saturday Ms Spender held just under 56 per cent of the two party vote. However, while describing the evening as a win for the community she did not formally declare victory, saying there was still polling and pre-polling to count.

“While the numbers are looking really good nothing is certain,” she told supporters at the Bondi Bowling Club

Update: 11.23pm

Scott Morrison has stepped down as leader of the Liberal Party after conceding defeat, saying he accepted responsibility for the result.

Mr Morrison says he will hand over the leadership at the next party meeting.

“To my colleagues who have had to deal with very difficult news, and have lost their seats tonight, I as leader take responsibility for the wins and the losses,” he told supporters at Liberal headquarters in Sydney.

“That is the burden and that is the responsibility of leadership.”

Mr Morrison said he would continue to represent the people of Cook and serve them to the best of his capability.

“But tonight, it’s a night of disappointment for the Liberals and Nationals, but it’s also a time for coalition and members and supporters all across the country to hold their highs head,” he said.

Update: 11.03

In his address to party faithful Mr Morrison has said he will step down as party leader.

All eyes turning Queensland, where Peter Dutton, who appears to have retained his seat, is the obvious heir apparent.

Update: 10.55

Australian women have sent a powerful message to the Liberal-National coalition, former high-profile conservative Julie Bishop says.

Liberal women “did not see their concerns and interests reflected in a party led by Scott Morrison in coalition with Barnaby Joyce,” she told the Nine Network.

A number of mostly female, teal independents are on track to roll sitting Liberal MPs, predominantly in inner-city seats, having made climate action and a federal anti-corruption agency the centrepieces of their campaigns.

Seeing female, independent candidates likely to replace MPs in formerly strong Liberal seats sent a powerful message, Ms Bishop said.

“We have not mentioned at this point the impact of Grace Tame and Brittany Higgins, they changed the narrative when they exposed an ugly side to the workplace in Canberra,” Ms Bishop said.

“That resonated with women.”

Update: 10.52

Green right as usual. Scott Morrison hailing his party’s achievements after congratulating Albanese.

Update: 10.47

ABC’s Anthony Green reporting that Scott Morrison has called Anthony Albanese to concede defeat

Update: 10.43

The state of play:

Update 10.04

The mood at Labor’s headquarters has changed very quickly. Despite a contingent of party faithful estimated to number nearly 1000 converging on the Canterbury-Hurlstone Park RSL the large theatre reserved for a victory party had people streaming in and out.

The traffic is now one way.

Cheering Labor true believers many in orange “It’s Time” shirts have formed a long queue as they wait for the man they expect to be the next Prime Minister: Anthony Albanese.
-James Robertson

Update: 9.54

The Liberals have turned off the sound on the Sky and ABC news feeds at their Sydney function as the party faithful come to terms with the loss of key seats. There’s no word yet on when Scott Morrison will appear to give a speech.
– Steph Richards

Updated: 9.40

A bad night for the Coalition gets worse.

At Labor’s official election function at the Canterbury-Hurlstone RSL in Sydney’s inner-west, there were raucous cheers when it was predicted the government would not be able to retain a majority government.

Labor has made up ground in Victoria and NSW, looking on track to win the Sydney seats of Reid and Bennelong as well as Melbourne electorates in Deakin, Chisholm and Higgins.

Early results from South Australia also show Labor taking Boothby, which would be the first time the party has taken the electorate, as well as gains in nearby Sturt.

Update: 9.33

Heavy swings against the Coalition in three vital Western Australian seats. Is this enough to anoint Labor to govern in its own right?

Updated: 9.24

High-profile Labor candidate for Fowler Kristina Keneally, whose campaign was dogged by the charge she was a “parachute” candidate with no local connections, has thrown in the towel, defeated by independent Dai Le.

Updated: 9.16pm

Trent Zimmerman has conceded defeat in North Sydney, surrendering the seat to independent Kylea Tink.

Updated: 8.48

Greens leader Adam Bandt says his party is reaping the dividends of grassroots canvassing.

A parliamentary balance of power held by the Greens would preference stable, effective and progressive government, party leader Adam Bandt says. Early election counts show the Queensland Labor-held seats of Brisbane, Ryan and Griffith as well as Macnamara in Victoria could go to the Greens.

Former Labor leader Bill Shorten said affluent people voted Greens because they don’t have to worry about their finances.

“Part of the challenge for Labor in the inner-city seats, and I have to contend with the Greens in my seat too, is very affluent people tend to vote Green because they don’t have a worry in the world,” he told the Nine Network.

Updated: 8.39

It’s not a happy mood at Liberal HQ at the moment. “That’s very disappointing,” one party supporter said, as soon as Antony Green announced it was unlikely that the Coalition would snag the crucial 76 seats needed to form a majority government. A volunteer who handed out how-to-vote cards for Liberal candidate Simon Kennedy in Bennelong said the mood at the polling booth was split. “It was 50/50,” she said.
– Steph Richards

Updated: 8.31

The week before the election the ANU’s Dr Marija Taflaga made the point that measuring support in two-party preferred terms was a habit election watchers would now have to ditch as votes diversified. And tonight’s early results seems to show the pitfalls of assuming shifts in voters’ preferences can always be expressed as either a loss or gain for a major parties.

TND’s founding editor, Bruce Guthrie, earlier this campaign made the case for questioning another presumption we make about parties and majority rule: the loaded term “hung parliament”.
-James Robertson

Updated: 8.20pm

The early detection of rising support for minor parties and independents is figuring as a massive factor in how this election turns out. Voters’ desertion of major parties is not new and has been underway across western democracies for decades.

But before this election there were signs it would reach new heights: last week’s Roy Morgan Poll had the primary votes for both parties at below 35 per cent: a level not seen since the 1906 election. That presents huge hurdles for the major parties’ attempts to form government or even interpret the vote. “It’s just going to be very, very messy,” a Liberal source said.
-James Robertson

Updated: 8.15pm

About 100 Liberal supporters have started filing into the party’s headquarters at the Fullerton Hotel in Sydney’s CBD – about a quarter of which are members of the media. The mood is quite subdued after Anthony Green predicted a hung parliament. One supporter was overheard saying the independents had “put a spanner in the works”.
 – Steph Richards

Updated: 7.50pm

Veteran independent Andrew Wilkie is sitting pretty in Clark.

Incumbent MP Andrew Wilkie is the first candidate to claim victory in a seat on Saturday, as independents enjoy widespread success in early vote counting.

“I am delighted to be in a position to again hold the seat of Clark after today’s poll,” Mr Wilkie said on Saturday evening, referring to the Tasmanian seat.

“Elections are a wonderful celebration of democracy and to have secured a fifth term is tremendous validation that my consistent calls for greater fairness and action on many key issues have resonated in the greater Hobart community.”

Independent candidates are poised to have a huge say on the makeup of Australia’s next parliament, with so-called teal independents polling well in a number of seats.

Updated: 6.00pm

Retired MHR and minister Christopher Pyne had a last blast of vitriol of the teal independents.

Independent candidates could have a huge say on the makeup of Australia’s next parliament, with one former Liberal minister stating they might just be a “game-changer”.

A number of “teal” independents backed by Climate 200 funds are looking to roll sitting Liberal MPs predominantly in inner-city seats, having made climate action and a federal anti-corruption agency the centrepieces of their campaigns.

Former journalist Zoe Daniel looks the best chance to pick up a seat running against Liberal MP Tim Wilson in Goldstein, while federal treasurer Josh Frydenberg will also face a strong challenge from Monique Ryan in Kooyong.

Former Liberal minister Julie Bishop said voters would make their choices on local issues.

Updated: 4.30pm

Throughout the campaign, Mr Morrison sought to appear with ultra-popular Labor Premier Mark McGowan.

Premier Mark McGowan says his state’s voters could “very easily” determine the outcome of Saturday’s poll.

“If Western Australia does play that role, it will mean we are once again front and centre in national consideration,” Mr McGowan told reporters after voting at Safety Bay Primary School in Perth.

Labor has campaigned heavily in WA, with leader Anthony Albanese making four visits to the state since the hard border opened in March, and the ALP held its formal campaign launch in Perth for the first time since 1940.

Updated: 4.20pm

Eric Abetz’s long Senate tenure is under a dark cloud. Photo: AAP

Updated: 1.52pm

Labor’s Jim Chalmers says Australians want to put an end to waste as the heavens opened in Queensland. Photo: AAP

Labor’s Jim Chalmers has trumpeted the Coalition’s “waste” as one of several reasons to switch governments as he led Queensland’s polling-day PR campaign.

Dr Chalmers said the ALP’s policies were ‘‘what this economy needs to get it growing the right way’’.

In Hervey Bay, Resources Minister Keith Pitt hailed ‘‘democracy at work” despite the “pretty tough conditions”.

Updated: 1.35pm

Scott Morrison arrives with his family to vote at Lilli Pilli Public School in the NSW seat of Cook.

The two contenders to be Australia’s prime minister have cast their votes in their home electorates in Sydney.

Labor leader Anthony Albanese joked it was a secret when asked who he had voted for at Marrickville Town Hall.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison headed to Lilli Pilli Public School in Sydney’s south.

Updated: 1.30pm

The signs that have been ordered to be taken down.

The Federal Court has ordered that “green” signs outside polling booths in the hotly-contested Melbourne seat of Higgins be pulled down.

The Labor Party went to the court earlier Saturday seeking an injunction over signs it alleged were put up by the campaign team of Liberal incumbent Katie Allen.

It argued the green-coloured signs, which instructed voters to “put Labor last” behind the Liberal Party on ballot papers, were designed to look like Greens Party signage.

Updated: 12.21pm

Josh Frydenberg is being challenged by Dr Monique Ryan in Kooyong. Photo: AAP

Electorates in Victoria previously considered to be safe Liberal seats are under major threat from teal independents.

Treasurer Josh Frydenberg says he has been ‘‘really encouraged by the positive reaction I’ve had on pre-poll’’ as he faces a challenge in Kooyong by Dr Monique Ryan.

Likewise, MP Tim Wilson is under fire in Goldstein from Zoe Daniel, who maintains she ‘‘would negotiate in good faith with both sides if it came to (a hung parliament)” if she was elected.

In contrast, Greens leader Adam Bandt is confident of holding his seat of Melbourne as he voted at Kensington Primary School.

Updated: 11.36am

Independent candidate Kylea Tink casts her vote at Naremburn in North Sydney. Photo: AAP

Independent Kylea Tink turned up to vote in her signature pink in the seat of North Sydney, as a sea of teal represents the charge of independent candidates in some NSW metropolitan electorates.

Hoping to usurp moderate Liberal incumbent Trent Zimmerman, Ms Tink declared ‘‘We’re ready to lead a new way of doing politics in this country”.

In Mackellar, independent Sophie Scamps – hoping to remove Liberal Jason Falinski – said ‘‘It’s time to get the country moving forward again’’.

And in Malcolm Turnbull’s old seat of Wentworth, Allegra Spender says she ‘‘can be an independent who stands for the values of this community’’.

Her opponent, Liberal MP Dave Sharma, says ‘‘No one is voting on a single issue or very few people anyway’’.

Updated: 11.20am

Scott Morrison hands out how-to-vote cards at the Laurimar Primary School in Doreen on Saturday. Photo: Getty

Prime Minister Scott Morrison started the day in the marginal Victorian electorate of McEwen, handing out how-to-vote cards at Laurimar Primary School at Doreen alongside Liberal candidate Richard Welch.

Steph Richards reports Mr Morrison and his wife received stems of eucalyptus from traditional elder Ian Hunter, who played the didgeridoo as the pair walked towards the polling booth entrance.

The Prime Minister was heckled by minor party supporters, who yelled out conspiracies such as “don’t sign the WHO pandemic treaty”, to which Mr Morrison replied: “We’re not”.

One couple that walked past didn’t appear to notice it was Mr Morrison handing them a how-to-vote card. They took his flyer and walked straight inside.

Mr Morrison then travelled to New South Wales, where he will vote in his electorate of Cook.

Updated: 9.59am

About one in three eligible voters have cast their ballot before polling officially opens, with nearly six million Australians going through pre-poll centres.

A mix of pre-poll, postal and telephone votes means only about eight million of 17 million voters are due through the doors on Saturday.

The Australian Electoral Commission said about 5.54 million people made an early vote on top of a record 2.73 million people applying for a postal vote.

Updated: 9.41am

Mr Albanese spent election morning in the Liberal-held Melbourne seat of Higgins.

Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese is urging voters to ‘‘Give Labor a crack’’.

‘‘We have plans for this country. We have plans to embrace the opportunities that are there,” the Labor leader said.

Mr Albanese, whose first stop on election day was to the eastern Melbourne seat of Higgins held by Liberal Katie Allen, says voters should back his team because they have a “plan for a better future”.

Updated 9.16am

The PM continued campaigning on the morning of the election. Photo: ABC News

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has again warned of a so-called ‘hung parliament on election day, revealing nothing of his willingness to negotiate with crossbenchers.

“A vote for an independent is a vote for chaos and governments having to negotiate their existence every single day at a time of great uncertainty,” he told ABC TV on Saturday.

Mr Morrison started the day north of Melbourne, in the marginal seat of McEwen, as a six-week campaign draws to a close.

Update 9.11am

Food safety rules are in place to avoid food poisoning outbreaks at the countless voting venues around the nation, as the Democracy Sausage again takes centre stage.

Update 9am

Polls have opened in eastern Australia for the 2022 federal election with both Roy Morgan and Newspoll on Friday both predicting an ALP win with a two-party preferred vote of 53 per cent to the Coalition’s 47 per cent.