As it happened: Campaign enters final day as Daniel Andrews, Matthew Guy ramp up promises

And that’s where we’ll leave today’s coverage.

If you’re just joining us, here’s what you need to know:

• Labor has promised to give $5000 grants to every Victorian kindergarten should it be re-elected tomorrow. The party also today pledged to spend $116 million on six new tech schools to be located in Frankston, Dandenong, Hume, Brimbank, Warrnambool and Wangaratta.
• The Coalition, meanwhile, revealed that it wants to provide a $6 million package to local councils to assist them in becoming “more RV-friendly”. Labor, the Liberals say, hasn’t been doing enough to boost the Victorian tourism industry.
• Daniel Andrews’ election pitch today was: “Now’s no time for [Liberal] cuts.” Matthew Guy has urged undecided voters to not “miss this chance” to turf out Andrews.
• And the Victorian Electoral Commission says tomorrow night’s count may be slowed by the record number of early votes. To date, more than a third of Victorians have cast their ballot before election day.

The state election blog will be back up and running tomorrow before 9am thanks to my colleague Ash McMillan.

I’ll be on deck later that afternoon. Until then, have a lovely evening.

At 6pm tomorrow, polls in the 2022 Victorian state election will close and vote counting will begin at centres across the state.

The Victorian Electoral Commission is the agency responsible for counting the votes. VEC officials will work through the night to tally the result of the election. But they have warned that a record number of early votes could slow the count.

The VEC counting votes back in 2010.Credit: Penny Stephens

“We’ll be aiming to count 75 per cent of everything that we have on hand over the weekend,” the VEC’s director of communications and engagement, Sue Lang, told ABC radio earlier today.

“And from that point on it’ll mainly be absent votes that are sorted to their correct districts being returned and counted next week [and] postal votes that are still coming in [if they’re put in the post by 6pm Saturday night].”

You can read our complete guide to how the votes will be counted here.

Victorian Greens leader Samantha Ratnam hopes her party will double its seats in the lower house tomorrow, putting it in a strong position to push its agenda if there is a hung parliament.

Richmond, Northcote and Albert Park in Melbourne’s inner suburbs are the party’s biggest chance of increasing its lower house seats, on top of the three it already holds in Melbourne, Prahran and Brunswick.

Greens leader Samantha Ratnam handing out how-to-vote cards earlier today. Credit: Joe Armao

The Greens had been hopeful of securing the balance of power at the 2018 election, when a tight outcome was predicted, but went backwards in the “Danslide”.

Ratnam said Saturday’s results would not be a repeat of the 2018 election – which was beset with controversy and cost the party the seat of Northcote and four of its five upper house seats because of the group voting system.

Read the full story here.

Earlier today, Premier Daniel Andrews declared that elections are always determined by a handful of people in a handful of seats.

So, which electorates will we be keeping an eye on tomorrow night when the polls close?

Some of them are below.

They include the divisions of Northcote and Richmond, where the Greens are hoping to defeat Labor, as well as a handful of Liberal seats under threat from independents.

Melton, in Melbourne’s west, is also one to watch.

Yesterday, early voting centres were open until 8pm.

But it’s back to usual timetabling tonight, with pre-poll finishing up at 6pm.

By that time, the Victorian Electoral Commission is expecting about half of the registered voters to have cast their ballots.

You can find your nearest early voting centre here.

There’s been a curious intervention from the Victorian Electoral Commission at Melton’s pre-poll centre for the final day of voting.

After a number of complaints about party volunteers muscling in on each another’s turf and impeding the walkway for voters, a VEC worker emerged with a number of foam pool noodles taped together.

Asked by The Age what they were for, the worker responded: “You’ll see.”

He proceeded to shuffle down the walkway using the noodles to corral volunteers into place.

Meanwhile, Labor wants to spend $15 million on $5000 grants for every single Victorian kindergarten so that early learning centres can purchase new equipment for play-based learning.

Labor has also promised to spend $3.7 million on 10 new bilingual kindergartens and a further $3.6 million for 150 new “bush” kinders.

In case you missed it earlier, the Liberals have promised to spend $6 million assisting regional councils to become “more RV-friendly” if they win government on Saturday.

The policy would, among other things, create more car parks close to towns, improve waste disposal and signage, and enable local councils to build more electric-vehicle charging stations at caravan parks.

While electric RVs are not yet common in Australia, it’s anticipated that the usage of electric vehicles towing motor homes will increase in the coming years, along with electric-powered motor homes.

Earlier this week, we told you that the Victorian Electoral Commission has set up one COVID-safe drive-through voting centre in Melbourne to cater to those who haven’t yet voted but have recently tested positive for coronavirus.

My colleague Rachael Dexter has been covering the seat of Melton closely. She explains the process below.

This video was edited by Cormac Lally.

The premier’s final campaign announcement has now wrapped up.

Here’s a taste of Daniel Andrews’ closing remarks:

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews.Credit: Jason South

I couldn’t be more proud of Victorians across our state for all that they’ve given. For all that they’ve done. And now’s no time for cuts. Now’s no time to make our economy smaller. That’s the worst reward for all that Victorians have given.

It’s a strong, stable majority government that makes our economy bigger. Makes kinder free. Brings back the SEC [State Electricity Commission] to cut power bills [and] create jobs and opportunities for the future. That’s what our state needs. A bigger economy, not a smaller economy.

The last thing we need right now, given all that we’ve been through as a community – as families, as businesses – is Liberal Party cuts and cancelling important projects.