Scott Morrison and Anthony Albanese's second head-to-head saw the men get into heated exchanges on national security, anti-corruption commissions and climate change.
The debate — hosted by Channel Nine — canvassed a wide range of topics, with questions put to each leader by a panel of three journalists.
Unlike the first debate, the Sunday night event was considerably more fiery and included a number of occasions where one or both men were yelling over each other, the moderator or the panellists.
As for who won, the result was unclear, with Channel Nine's viewer poll changing from an original 52 per cent for Mr Morrison, to 51 per cent to Mr Albanese and then settling on a 50-50 split at the end.
A question about national security and the controversial security deal between China and Solomon Islands led to one of the longest arguments of the night, with neither moderator Sarah Abo nor journalist Chris Uhlmann able to successfully interrupt and refocus the debate.
Mr Morrison was asked what he would do if his "red line" was crossed and China began moves to build a military base on Solomon Islands.
After it was put to him by Ms Abo that it appeared people did not have a clear understanding of what the red line was, Mr Morrison said he thought Australians understood that the government would work with others to make sure "that type of outcome would be prevented".
Mr Albanese interjected, describing the deal as a "massive foreign policy failure" before Mr Morrison interrupted and asked "why did you cut defence spending?"
The Opposition Leader replied:
The comment sparked a long yelling match, where both men spoke over each other, with Mr Morrison saying the federal government had no hand in the lease of the port and Mr Albanese saying the government allowed it to happen within the Northern Territory.
The Prime Minister later returned to a familiar line, questioning Deputy Labor Leader Richard Marles' public comments about China in recent years, saying "he runs his speeches past the Chinese government".
Another topic that elicited a fiery back-and-forth was the discussion around public trust in politics and what each side is proposing when it comes to an anti-corruption commission.
Mr Albanese spruiked Labor's proposal for an anti-corruption commission that would hold public hearings for all parties, including politicians, while Mr Morrison questioned why the party had never put forward a private members bill and drafted its own legislation.
The Coalition has continually blamed Labor for the lack of action on a commission during the last term of government, demanding the Opposition provides express support for its bill before it is introduced to parliament — despite not taking that approach with a range of other pieces of legislation throughout its three terms in government.
While there were a number of other testy moments, a segue by Mr Albanese about Labor's energy plan also brought out raised voices and turned the debate into what, at times, felt like a full-blown argument.
Questions to one another
Both leaders were also given the opportunity to ask two questions of their opponent.
Mr Albanese's first question to Mr Morrison saw the Prime Minister make a rare concession about his management of the vaccine rollout.
The Opposition Leader asked Mr Morrison about his comments that the rollout was "not a race" and whether he now accepted that "it was a race, and you should have secured vaccines earlier?"
"It was a race, Anthony, and we shouldn't have described it in those terms," Mr Morrison replied before going on to defend the government's handling and decisions during the rest of the rollout.
Mr Morrison then asked Mr Albanese how Australians could believe "you are now for them", given he and Labor's changing attitude toward policies such as negative gearing.
"I supported the Labor Party at the last election," the Opposition Leader replied, saying after its election defeat in 2019 the party had started anew with its policies.
The Opposition Leader also asked Mr Morrison if he thought all Australians should be paid at least the minimum wage.
"Well, it depends if they are running a business or not. I mean, if you are running a business, I can tell you who doesn't get the minimum wage necessarily: small business owners when the money is not coming in."
When asked about people in the gig economy who were not being paid minimum wages, Mr Morrison responded: "They are working for themselves, that's why they do it."
Mr Morrison's second question to Mr Albanese was about Labor's newly-announced shared equity housing scheme and why it was designed so that, once people earn more than $120,000, they would have to begin to pay the government's stake in the property back.
"You know what happened in the design of the scheme? It is based on schemes that are actually operational, based on schemes that are actually operating," Mr Albanese replied.
It led to another argy-bargy between the two leaders, with Mr Morrison interrupting Mr Albanese's answer and leading to a quip from panellist and journalist David Crowe that "this is why journalists get so frustrated when people don't answer the question".
The debate also touched on issues around the treatment of women in parliament and failures in aged care, while both leaders ruled out extending the cut to the fuel excise beyond September.
