Anthony Albanese and Scott Morrison in dead heat on eve of the election

The final poll before today’s election has been released, with a surprise result on who Aussies prefer as Prime Minister.

Labor leader Anthony Albanese has ended the six-week campaign in a dead heat with Scott Morrison on the question of who is the nation’s preferred prime minister.

Newspoll, published in the Weekend Australian, has predicted a two-party preferred result of 53:47 with Labor likely to secure a majority - just - if those numbers are replicated on Saturday.

The race for Australia’s preferred Prime Minister is a dead heat according to Newspoll, with 42 per cent declaring for Scott Morrison and 42 per cent preferring Anthony Albanese.

The ALP remains cautiously confident it can fall over the line with around 78 seats but the outcome is not assured and Labor MPs are nervous that it could still end in tears.

Coalition strategists concede they are unlikely to secure an outright majority if the published polling is accurate but insist there’s a late swing back to the Liberals in some key seats.

But the Prime Minister remains confident the ALP will struggle to secure more than 76 seats and could be forced into minority government with the Greens and Tasmanian Independent Andrew Wilkie.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has continued to insist his opponent is “not up to it “ and now was not the time to risk the economy with a “loose unit.” Picture: Jason Edwards

Federal Labor leader Anthony Albanese could soon be Australia’s next Prime Minister. Picture: Sam Ruttyn

Mr Morrison, who campaigned in the Perth seat of Swan on Friday, said he was confident the Coalition would still defy the polls.

“Of course (we can win). Absolutely. I’m looking forward to tomorrow and I’m looking forward to going forward beyond that because we’ve all worked so hard as a country to come through this pandemic,” Mr Morrison said.

“The opportunities are ahead. But there are big risks and the biggest of those is Anthony Albanese and Labor which means higher debt, higher deficits and higher taxes.”

“I’ve always respected the decisions of Australians and those quiet Australians, as I refer to them, out there working hard every day. They’re considering their choice very carefully and that’s why I say to them, we have a great opportunity to secure their future,” he said.

The Coalition started the election with 76 seats and expects to lose the NSW seat of Reid, the Victorian seat of Chisholm, the South Australian seat of Boothby, and the WA seat of Swan. Goldstein, a Victorian Liberal seat, could fall to an Independent.

In Queensland, Labor expects to win two seats - Longman and Leichhardt - with another Liberal held seat of Ryan tipped as a possible win for the Greens,

Under that scenario, Labor will secure the 74-75 seats it needs to form a minority government but is still chasing the seats it requires to secure a working majority of 76 seats in the 151 seat House of Representatives.

Labor also believes they are a chance in the Victorian electorate of Higgins, the Tasmanian electorate of Bass and even the SA electorate of Sturt where they are now pouring all their resources into in the hope of flipping the seat to Labor.

Labor leader Anthony Albanese has ended the campaign with a lead of 53:47 according to Newspoll as the Liberal Party continues to predict that it could still force him into minority government.

“What the government has is fear campaigns and smear campaigns – shirking responsibility and smirking while they do it,” he said.

“This guy himself has said, remarkably during this campaign, that he’s a bulldozer.

“Bulldozers wreck things. I’m a builder and I want to build things.”

Leader of the opposition Anthony Albanese and his partner Jodie Haydon arrive at a pre-polling site in Launceston, Tasmania on May 20, 2022. Picture: Wendell Teodoro / AFP.

After a six-week campaign dominated by character questions over both leaders the Prime Minister Scott Morrison has continued to insist his opponent is “not up to it “ and now was not the time to risk the economy with a “loose unit.”

Without a late swing to the Coalition, Labor remains on track to win the election with a two-party-preferred lead of 53-47.

That result is also in line with the ALP tracking poll in marginal seats which was also predicting a 53:47 result.

The ALP tracking poll and Newspoll published by The Weekend Australian are produced by the same pollster Campbell White.

In a worrying sign for Labor, the campaign shows Labor ’s primary vote falling two points over the past week to 36 per cent confirming a tightening in the electoral race.

The Greens have increased its primary vote from 11 per cent to 12 per cent and Pauline Hanson’s One Nation will go to the polls with a primary vote of five per cent.

Newspoll predicts Clive Palmer’s United Australia Party is on 3 per cent, an estimation some pollsters believe is undercooked.

Satisfaction with Mr Albanese’s performance lifted three points from 38 per cent to 41 per cent according to Newspoll.