Same-sex marriage result: Australia votes 'yes'

It's the end of the day. What happened?

• Australia has voted 'yes' to same-sex marriage;
• 61.6 per cent of people voted 'yes' and 38.4 per cent of people voted 'no';
• Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has called on politicians to respect the will of the people;
• Mr Turnbull wants legislation passed by Christmas;
• the government has cleared the way for Parliament to begin debating the legislation tomorrow morning;
• the result is being seen as a victory for Mr Turnbull;
• the 'no' campaigners have promised to keep fighting;
• there were some very interesting results - including the multicultural electorates that voted 'no';
• but the day belonged to the 'yes' campaigners including high-profile advocates such as Magda Szubanski and Penny Wong;
• you can see how your electorate voted in this interactive graphic.

My thanks to Andrew Meares and Alex Ellinghausen for their superb efforts and to you for reading and commenting.

You can follow me on Facebook.

Andrew, Alex and I will be back in the morning for the start of the parliamentary debate. Please join us. Until then - have a wonderful evening.

If you'd like to see Australia's 'jubo', as the photographers refer to scenes of jubilation, look no further.

Former prime minister Tony Abbott is speaking to Sydney radio.

"I'm not going to vote against the will of the people," he says.

"I am not going to try to stop this going through the Parliament. There will be no filibustering, no clever political tactics."

I have seen some disappointment the 'yes' vote wasn't higher.

Let me put it in context for you.

At 61.6 per cent the 'yes' received more votes than Labor or the Coalition have ever got at a federal election.

The highest vote ever for the Coalition was 56.9 per cent in 1966. The highest vote ever for Labor was 53.2 per cent in 1983.

There is applause for Senator Smith as he introduces his bill.

The motion is passed on the voices which means debate will start tomorrow at 9.30 am.

This is the only item the Senate will consider tomorrow.

Senator Dean Smith with Senators Louise Pratt, Janet Rice, Skye Kakoschke-Moore, Penny Wong and Derryn Hinch after the introduction of the Marriage Amendment Bill on Wednesday.Credit: Andrew Meares

Greens leader Richard Di Natale is making the same noises.

He says the consensus bill "is the position the Greens support".

"Think very, very carefully about entrenching discrimination to appease your colleagues rather than listening to the Australian people who spoke so clearly today."

Senator Wong is speaking: "I believe the Australian people voted to remove discrimination and I trust the bill will reflect that."

She is not indicating there is any scope for amendment.

Senator Brandis says there is "no government view" on the bill but he has his own thoughts.

He says he will move an amendment to make it clear there is nothing in the bill to make it "unlawful for people to hold and express their own views on the subject of marriage".

Attorney-General George Brandis in the Senate on Wednesday.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

Attorney-General George Brandis is speaking on the bill in the Senate.

He says debate will begin tomorrow and will continue until it is "finally disposed of".

He thinks this could take the whole of the week of November 27.

This means there is only one bill before Parliament.