Millions of voters have turned out in NSW to choose the state's 58th parliament, in an election that has seen record numbers of postal votes sent out by the NSW Electoral Commission.
Victory in today's election will be a battle for either major party with 47 seats required to form majority government.
The Coalition enters the election with 46 and Labor needs to win nine seats to form a majority — or negotiate with a crossbench likely to be made up of independents, the Greens and One Nation.
More than 1,566,493 early votes have already been cast and half a million postal vote packs sent out.
After voting at Beecroft Public School in Sydney's north, Premier Dominic Perrottet said he was confident his party had the expertise to carry the state forward.
"We were the worst-performing economy over a decade ago. The state had stalled. We've turned that around," he said.
"We built schools and hospitals, those metro trains, motorways that [have] transformed people's lives but ultimately the elections are all about the future and where we go from here and I believe that my team has the plan, the experience, the energy and the ideas to take the state forward."
Chris Minns has been campaigning in the seat of East Hills with Labor's candidate Kylie Wilkinson.
Current Liberal MP Wendy Lindsay holds the seat with a margin of 0.1 per cent.
Historically it was a longtime Labor seat until the party's wipe-out result in 2011, and has been a Liberal seat ever since.
Mr Minns, who cast his own vote with his wife around midday, told media he had been texting with the premier last night, but wouldn't share what was discussed.
He also confirmed his middle son Nick — who he's previously confirmed wears a Dominic Perrottet shirt around the house to stir his dad — had been talked around to support Labor today.
"He's a 12-year-old swing voter," Mr Minns laughed.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese appeared at the West Ryde Public School, throwing his support behind state Labor's candidate for the electorate of Ryde, Lyndal Howison.
Unsurprisingly, he argued NSW needed a change of government.
"Dominic Perrottet and Chris Minns are both very good people — I like both of them," he said.
"I've worked closely with Dominic Perrottet, he's been constructive in his relationships as the New South Wales Premier — but the government that he leads is a complete shambles.
"The Liberals are too busy fighting each other, and fighting the Nationals, and the Nationals fighting other Nationals, to actually fight for the people of New South Wales."
Mr Albanese pointed to the retirement of the current Liberal Member for Ryde, Customer Service Minister Victor Dominello, as evidence for why voters should vote Labor.
"Victor, I pay tribute to his career as the Member for Ryde and as a minister," the prime minister said.
"But when you have Brad Hazzard, Rob Stokes, Victor Dominello, all these people bailing out, that's an expression in itself by the Perrottet government that it doesn't even have confidence in itself.
"It's time for a change of government, and I hope that happens today."
If Labor wins the state election, all mainland states and territories would be governed by Labor.
But, Mr Albanese stressed he would be able to work with whichever party won the support of voters in NSW.
"I think I've shown as prime minister the different attitude from my predecessor — I want to work with people for national unity," he argued.
"But, I'm very confident that I would work very closely with Chris Minns — we have similar values."
Corflute row at Manly
Meanwhile, the NSW Liberal Party has demanded the state's electoral commission remove corflute signs by Manly independent Joeline Hackman, referring to an exhausted vote as "wasted".
Liberal Party state director Chris Stone has written to the commission complaining about Ms Hackman's signs in the northern beaches seat and asking they be removed from voting centres immediately.
Under NSW's optional preferential voting system, people do not need to number every box on the lower house ballot paper and can elect to just back one candidate.
Ms Hackman's signs, seen by the ABC, are worded: "Don't risk a wasted vote, number every box (*on the small ballot paper)".
The Liberal's letter claims the signs are misleading, and give the impression that people would be casting an informal vote if they number only one box.
"A voter should not be told that a potentially exhausted vote is a waste," the letter said.
In his letter, Mr Stone said the Liberal Party sought approval for its signs, which include the party's logo, and inform voters they have a choice to either number each box or just one.
"The signs authorised on behalf of Climate 200 does not include any feature to identify that it is being displayed by them," he wrote.
Ms Hackman told the ABC she had no intention of removing the signs and would consider "prompt" legal action if the NSW Electoral Commission (NSWEC) ruled against them.
"It is the height of hypocrisy. The Liberals have their own signs that are confusing to the voters — in black, looking like official communications from the NSW Electoral Commission," she said in a statement to the ABC.
"There is no such confusion with our signs that are clearly in campaign colours with our campaign logo and they encourage voters to number every box on the small ballot paper to ensure they don't risk wasting their vote."
The NSWEC would not confirm the specific complaint but said in a statement it "reviews all allegations it becomes aware of in accordance with its Compliance and Enforcement Policy".
"Unless permitted by law, the Commission does not comment on specific compliance matters or confirm whether or not it is investigating a matter".
Amid predictions of a close result in today's election, independent candidates could play a significant role in the outcome.
There are seven independent MPs recontesting their seats, and other independent candidates are considered competitive in areas won by independents in the federal election.
Ms Hackman is one of five teal candidates being supported by the Climate 200 group, four in Sydney's north, and one in the Southern Highlands.
Both Labor and the Coalition must win seats to form a majority government — a hung parliament would force them to negotiate a minority government with the crossbench.
Mr Perrottet has conceded the election will be tight but yesterday said he was still hoping for an outright win.
