Former prime minister Scott Morrison says he is leaving the top job with a "sense of gratitude" not regrets and is looking forward to going back to being a "quiet Australian" in the wake of Saturday's election result.
In his first interview since the Coalition's loss, Mr Morrison told Nine Radio that while he was "of course" disappointed by the result but he respected the democratic process.
"You accept the result and you move on and you're thankful for the opportunity that you've had to serve the country," he said.
"When I was standing there on the Saturday night I was very mindful of what was happening in Ukraine, there is a country fighting for its very liberty and here we were a democratic nation changing a government through peaceful means.
"The party will come together, it's not the first time the Liberal Party has lost an election.
The former prime minister credited "quiet Australians" with securing his unexpected win in 2019.
Peter Dutton is set to run unopposed and become the Liberal Party leader next week, with former environment minister Sussan Ley tipped to become the deputy leader.
Mr Morrison will remain in politics but it is unclear if he will put his hand up for, or be given, a shadow ministry.
"I've got no plans to go anywhere, I'm going back to the shire and re-establishing our life back there, getting the girls back into their routine — I just dropped them off at school this morning," he said.
"I'm looking forward to being a dad again, it's been a while since I've been able to spend as much time as I would've liked with the family."
Mr Morrison said he felt for his Liberal Party colleagues who had lost their seats, including former treasurer Josh Frydenberg.
"Obviously devastated that Josh won't be there. Josh was a huge part of the party's future," he said.
When asked how he was holding up after the significant loss, Mr Morrison said his faith and his family allowed him to keep a level head.
"You're just very humbled by the opportunity you've had, you can dwell on defeat or you can dwell on the things that led you to go and do what you did," he said.
"I leave not with regrets but with a great sense of gratitude.
"Three years later the country's moved in a different direction, that's the nature of politics. I've never been one to get particularly flattered in victory of pessimistic in defeat."
'Teal independents' ran vicious campaigns: Morrison
Mr Morrison was pleased Labor was on track to form a majority government rather than having a hung parliament.
He said the "teal independents" made many election promises and he hoped they were held to account during the next parliament.
"They were very vicious and very brutal campaigns, talking to my colleagues about them, they played things very hard on the ground," he said.
"Anyway, politics can be a tough and brutal business."
Mr Morrison would not comment on whether he believed the Coalition needed to make sure it did not move further to the right with the loss of some of its key moderates.
