Leaders debate as it happened: Peter Dutton, Anthony Albanese go head-to-head in first debate on Sky

That’s all from our coverage of the first leaders’ debate. Our live blog of the election campaign will be back tomorrow morning.

Enjoy the rest of the evening.

An account for the LNP in Queensland tonight posted that Peter Dutton won the leaders’ debate.

That wasn’t the result in the room, though. The crowd of undecided voters gave the debate to Albanese, 44-35 (with 21 undecided).

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Opposition Leader Peter Dutton shake hands before the debate.Credit: News Corp Australia

The undecided voters gave their verdict – and now our experts have given theirs.

Our writers, David Crowe, James Massola and Jacqueline Maley, all thought the debate left plenty for Anthony Albanese and Peter Dutton to do to sway the hearts and minds of the voting public.

You can read all their analysis of the leaders’ performances here.

In tonight’s debate, 44 per cent of the audience thought Albanese outperformed Dutton, Sky News has reported.

Albanese won the debate according to a poll of the 100 undecided voters at the debate.Credit: News Corp Australia

Of the remainder, 35 per cent picked Dutton as the winner, while 21 per cent left still undecided.

Peter Dutton’s father, Bruce, suffered a heart attack before the federal opposition leader took to the stage in the first head-to-head debate of the federal election campaign with Anthony Albanese.

Bruce Dutton, 79, has since been receiving treatment in hospital in Queensland, where he lives, according to The Daily Telegraph.

The opposition leader was getting ready to take to the stage at the Wentworthville Leagues Club in western Sydney for the debate on Tuesday evening as the news broke.

A spokeswoman for Dutton declined to comment on the condition of the opposition leader’s father.

Peter Dutton had more on the line tonight because of the Coalition’s stumbling start to the election race.

His MPs were keen to see their leader hit the prime minister where it hurt and talk up the Coalition’s strengths on economic management and national security at a time when the Trump administration is causing chaos in financial markets.

Coalition hardheads would have been pleased with some of Dutton’s thrusts against Albanese on his government’s spending record and Labor’s “lies” on Dutton’s plans for Medicare and education funding. Dutton called out Albanese’s Medicare card prop in what appeared a premeditated tactic.

Dutton appeared agitated at times and did little to soften his image with a more smiley approach. However, he could be excused given his father Bruce was admitted to hospital just hours earlier before the western Sydney forum.

There were quite a few questions on areas of strength for Labor and Albanese was solid in his responses and largely untroubled throughout.

The debate, aired on pay TV for city audiences and Sky News Regional for those outside metro areas, will probably be largely forgotten in the coming days because neither leader made a major error or a super newsworthy jab.

About halfway through the debate, a question from grandmother Janine struck a bit of a nerve.

“I’m 74 years old, I worked very hard all my life. I didn’t come from money at all. My future? Well, I’m not worried about it. My children’s future and my grandchildren’s future, I worry about,” she said.

Her heartfelt concerns about the fairness of the housing market and the future of the next generation were emblematic of the attitude of swinging voters that both leaders are so keenly vying for.

Dutton was given the final say. Here’s how the opposition leader used it:

Dutton: ”I said before that it was confronting to see the hands go up with people who are struggling at the moment. A Coalition government will always be a better economic manager. We will always fix the economy, which means that we can deal with the cost-of-living crisis more effectively.

“That is about helping families. It is about making sure that we don’t see a repeat of the 30,000 small businesses that have gone to the wall over the last three years.

“The prime minister spent the first 16 months of this term obsessing about the Voice, which is a $425 million red herring that proved to be a distraction, an attempt to divide the country. When that debate was taking place, the prime minister should have been making decisions around how best to protect us from inflation that was obvious off the back of COVID.

“I want to make sure that we can restore the dream of home ownership. I want to make sure that we deliver a health system. I want to make sure that we can live in a safe country.

“The prime minister says that we live in the most precarious period since the end of the Second World War and then takes $80 billion out of defence [spending].

“I want to keep us safe as a community, safe as a country, and I want to make sure that we can help families deal with Labor’s cost-of-living crisis.”

This statement has been slightly edited for clarity and brevity.

Here’s what the PM said in his closing statement:

Albanese: “Thank you very much everyone for your questions and for the way that we’ve engaged together tonight. I think the people’s forum is a really important part of the Australian political landscape.

“Peter said that there’d be no cuts to health, but they said that last time. When they came into office in 2013, they said there’d be no cuts to health, no education, no cuts to the ABC. And the truth is that they ripped into education, they ripped into health, they cut the ABC, and they did everything that they said they would not.

“Now, if you have a $600 billion nuclear plan, money has to come from somewhere. We have been a responsible government that has delivered budget surpluses … We’ve provided cost-of-living support when it’s needed, whilst getting inflation down.

“But there’s more to do to build on the foundations, to build a stronger future. It’s not the time to make cuts, to have the sort of policies that we’ve seen in the last week, where they’ve chopped and changed … So how can you believe what they’ll do after the election?

This statement has been slightly edited for brevity and clarity.

A diverse crowd drawn from a cross-section of multicultural western Sydney is present at the Wenty Leagues Club, in Parramatta, the electorate held by Labor MP Andrew Charlton.

An owner-truck driver came to ask about fuel costs and the leaders’ positions on scrapping excise tax.

Another question came from Janine, from semi-rural Tahmoor on the outskirts of Sydney, who wants to know what the leaders will do to improve infrastructure, particularly for children and their school commute.

Another woman from nearby Toongabbie says she has many relatives and loved ones in Gaza who are affected by genocide.

Two other questions focus on urban pressures – the migration rate of international students and the effect on housing and foreign ownership of farmland and homes.