The first of the absentee votes are being counted, nudging incumbent Labor MP Fiona Phillips into the lead in the NSW electorate of Gilmore.
Labor needs to win one more seat to form a majority government.
Look back on all of Monday's developments as they happened in our blog.
Key events
- Liberal senator Hollie Hughes mocks Katy Gallagher's economic experience
- Anthony Albanese will unveil his frontbench tomorrow
- Birmingham 'looking forward' to David Littleproud's 'style of leadership'
- Dutton says he's 'not going to change'
- 'I suppose you think I am sad. Not really': Barnaby Joyce on losing Nationals leadership
- Labor move into the lead in Gilmore
- Dutton says boycotting the apology to the Stolen Generations was 'a mistake'
- David Littleproud is the leader of the Nationals
- Peter Dutton elected as Liberal party leader
- Scott Morrison addresses Liberal Party ahead of leadership vote
- Alex Hawke throws support behind Dutton
- Barnaby Joyce to 'let the party make up their own mind'
Live updates
By Jessica Riga
We'll wrap up our live coverage here
Thank you for your company today in what was a jam-packed Monday in Australian politics!
Three seats still remain in doubt, with Labor one seat shy of forming majority.
You can keep up to date with the latest news here on our Australia Votes page.
Otherwise, we'll be back tomorrow. See you then!
By Jessica Riga
Pacific nations walk away from region-wide trade and security deal with China
Pacific Island countries have not signed a region-wide trade and security deal with China, after a high-level meeting between Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and leaders from 10 Pacific nations was held in Fiji on Monday afternoon.
China was seeking a wide-ranging deal that covered free trade, police cooperation and disaster resilience.
Fijian Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama said Pacific nations were united in their approach.
"As always, we put consensus first among our countries throughout any discussion on new regional agreements," Mr Bainimarama said at a press conference with Mr Wang.
"Fiji will continue to seek fertile ground for our bilateral relationship. The challenges our people face will only intensify until collective solutions rise to meet them.
"And I am grateful to the minister and his team for bringing the spirit of productive cooperation with them to Fiji."
By Jessica Riga
Liberal senator Hollie Hughes mocks Katy Gallagher's economic experience
A Liberal senator has mocked the economic experience of Labor's Finance Minister Katy Gallagher, saying the former ACT chief minister was essentially once the "mayor of a regional centre".
Senator Gallagher served as ACT chief minister between 2011 and 2014, before entering federal parliament a year later.
The ACT senator is now Finance Minister in the Albanese government, but Liberal senator Hollie Hughes says she and her Labor colleagues are not well-equipped to handle the economy.
"You know we've got a Treasurer who's got training wheels on, we've got a Finance Minister whose biggest portfolio responsibility in the past was fundamentally mayor of a regional centre, so we have a government with very little experience in running this economy," she said.
By Jessica Riga
By Jessica Riga
Anthony Albanese will unveil his frontbench tomorrow
It's been a big day for the Liberals and Nationals. But Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has also been busy in factional meetings as he works out who will feature in his frontbench, which will be announced tomorrow.
By Jessica Riga
Australians will see 'the richer picture' of Peter Dutton in the years to come, Birmingham says
"Peter has often held quite difficult, tough jobs. Outside of the Parliament his work in terms of the policing and the type of areas of policing he worked in, but inside the Parliament, the national security roles he's held, in immigration, home affairs and defence. They're not warm cuddly roles," Simon Birmingham says.
"I'm not suggesting everybody is about to see a warm and cuddly Peter Dutton either. He's an individual who when you work closely with him, you can see the areas in which he deeply cares for people. You can see the breadth of policy concerns that he has.
"He's provided effective solutions and engagement on difficult issues such as the way he worked in support of an ultimate, in my view too late, an ultimate resolution to matters of same-sex marriage. And at a personal level, a family, wife, who successfully operates a businesses herself, adult teenage kids who I think keep him very grounded.
"I trust Australians will see the richer picture of Peter in the three years to come. And they'll form their opinions from that."
By Jessica Riga
Does Birmingham still stand by his comments that the Liberals should consider life away from the Nationals?
"In fairness I was asked that question and I said clearly we as a Liberal Party have to make sure that we are addressing the things in our interests, just as David [Littleproud] was talking about making sure the Nats stand up for their constituencies," Simon Birmingham says.
"We have existed as a very effective Coalition for a very long period of time. I'm confident we can continue to do that and to find that common ground. The diversity of views and opinions the Liberal and National Parties they bring to this parliament and enable our MPs to connect to their electorates.
"On issues such as climate change, there's a nationwide sentiment for as much action as can be taken without jeopardising jobs or Australia's economic position, for settling debates in ways that give certainty for the country. I don't think that divide exists terribly much between Labor or Liberal seats or Liberal and National seats. There is a strong sense and majority of significant majority across the country wanting to see us take those sorts of issues forward and we can work together as a Coalition to achieve that."
By Jessica Riga
How difficult is it going to be for the Liberal Party to pick up the pieces?
Simon Birmingham says it's crucial the Liberals learn from this election loss.
"We lost some very valued colleagues and very dear friends of mine and I'm very disappointed they're no longer with us to help us in that rebuilding process. We've got to learn lessons from the recent election.
"Clearly we lost a large number of voters. We lost them across a range of seats and some of them we lost to the so-called teal independents and others we lost to the Labor Party. One or two we appear to have lost to the Greens.
"Being mindful across those swathes of electorates, what drove those voters to leave us and how do we win those voters back in those seats and potentially in others? That's where we need to look carefully at who it is we lost, why we lost them and make sure we engage effectively on those policy fronts to ensure at the next election we can frame the choice in the most compelling way possible."
By Jessica Riga
Birmingham 'looking forward' to David Littleproud's 'style of leadership'
"I trust this does give us all a very stable and solid leadership team to work with all the way through to the next election," Simon Birmingham tells Afternoon Briefing.
"I look forward to David's style of leadership, to working collaboratively with him. He's a fresh face for the National Party. Bringing experience but also bringing a freshness and vibrancy that I trust will enable them to succeed but also them to work very closely with the Liberal Party and make sure we're not only an effective Opposition through this parliament, but present an effective alternate vision for Australia that gives us the best possible chance of election in three years' time."
By Jessica Riga
Did rhetoric on carbon emissions from Matt Canavan and Barnaby Joyce cost the Coalition the election?
"There's a lot of emotion going around and people have lost their jobs," David Littleproud says.
"The Australian people have made their decision. Reviews will start as we speak, both at the Liberal, the National Party and state divisions. We need to give it the clear air it needs, rather than gratuitous comments from the sidelines. We need to take a step back and not make commentary in the heat of the moment.
"We need to understand that and that will help formulate the sensible centre, the policy framework we need to bring. Because chasing extremities don't win you elections. Being sensible, putting cogent arguments towards the Australian people is the way you gain their trust. We'll do that as a Coalition and as a National Party as part of that."
By Jessica Riga
Littleproud says Australians should have 'their chin up and chest out' in terms of action on climate policy
He was asked how damaging it was when Matt Canavan cast doubt on the National's climate policy ahead of the election.
"The one thing we respect in our party room is diversity but the majority of our party room has said we have to be sensible about this," Littleproud says.
"We don't get to set the international rules. We've got to play by them, as much as we'd like to tell a world to take a running jump, you simply can't, because we're a trading nation. We produce enough food and fibre for 80 million people, and we have 26 million people. You have to understand your place in the world and make sure you come up with sensible policies that protect those particularly in regional Australia who have born the brunt of us meeting our international commitment, instead of tearing us down and this self-loathing that goes on in this country and that we haven't done enough and that we're a laggard. We're not. We should have our chin up and chest out us Australians in terms of climate change and everything else, [such as] our response to COVID. The self-loathing has to stop and as Australians, particularly as National Party members, we want to bring that common sense to making sure that we can live up to our international commitment, protect regional Australia and live up to us being world leadersment."
By Jessica Riga
A new leader means a new Coalition agreement. So what's in Littleproud's wishlist?
"I'm about to go talk to Peter Dutton. I'm just an uneducated bloke from western Queensland..."
"Might be selling yourself a bit short. You're now the leader of the National Party. A party you've been part of for four decades?" Afternoon Briefing host Matthew Doran asks.
Littleproud continues: "And what great thing for Australians to understand you don't have to have a tertiary degree to lead a party or to come to this great place, that some only 1,500 people have gone into the House of Representatives. That's a great message to every Australian that doesn't have a tertiary degree, that your contribution to this country can be a profound one and can be a significant one.
"I'll intend to go and have those discussions with Peter Dutton and make sure we can work collectively together because we can't win in isolation and neither can they. This is about us taking a sensible approach, bringing common sense to Canberra. That's what the Nationals do and the common sense from a regional and rural perspective is what we pride ourselves on."
By Jessica Riga
If the Nationals didn't lose any seats, as Barnaby Joyce says, why was he booted?
"First and foremost, the primacy of the party room makes that decision," David Littleproud says.
"We didn't go back. We wanted to make sure we had a pathway and a journey towards 2025. One that was committed from today, not in 18 months, and that we had the leadership and a team, in terms of a frontbench, ready to move and to start today and not have to change course for a change of leader. That was what the National Party decided today."
By Jessica Riga
Littleproud 'truly humbled' to be Nationals leader
David Littleproud says we'll never know how close the vote was between himself, Barnaby Joyce and Darren Chester for the Nationals leadership.
"We'll never know and I don't even know, such are the rules of the National Party. The two whips take it, destroy the ballots. I have no idea and I'm truly humbled to be the leader of a party I've been part of for over 40 years," he told Afternoon Briefing.
"I'm profoundly proud of this. It's the highest professional honour I've ever been given. I understand the gravity of the responsibility.
By Jessica Riga
Peter Dutton's 'forgotten Australians' and a 'mistake': What we learned from the new Opposition Leader's first statements
From acknowledging a "mistake" in his past to standing by his "strong statements" on China, this is what we learnt from Peter Dutton's first press conference as Liberal leader.
By Jessica Riga
By Jessica Riga
Here's what's coming up on Afternoon Briefing
The new Nationals Leader David Littleproud will join Afternoon Briefing, as will former Finance Minister Simon Birmingham, who has been re-elected as leader of the Opposition in the Senate during today's party room meeting.
Plus, our very own Antony Green!
You can tune in at 4:00pm AEST using the live stream above or watch it here on the ABC News YouTube channel.
By Jessica Riga
Dutton will lead Liberals into 'far right irrelevance', Greens senator says
Greens senator Dr Mehreen Faruqi believes Peter Dutton will lead the Liberal party into "far right irrelevance".
Dutton has been elected unopposed to the leadership of the Liberals with New South Wales MP Sussan Ley elected as deputy.
Dr Faruqi says the election of Mr Dutton shows the Liberals have not listened to voters.
"By choosing Peter Dutton as their leader, the Liberals have learnt nothing for their election wipe-out. The Liberals will slide into far right irrelevance under Peter Dutton."
By Jessica Riga
