Australia is among the few democracies with mandatory voting, and close to 7 million out of an eligible 18 million voters had already cast a ballot by Friday at early voting centres or by postal voting, the Australian Electoral Commission said.
Both major parties have focused on cost-of-living pressures and high housing costs, but polls show that global uncertainty driven by Trump's stop-start tariffs rapidly became a top issue for voters during the campaign.
Political strategists said Trump was not the decisive factor - Albanese has run a strong campaign, and Dutton made mistakes including a short-lived policy to ban public servants working from home. But the Trump effect, they said, has added to reservations for voters who became risk-averse.
In a radio interview with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, Albanese said Australia was “a different country to the United States” and voters are concerned about Dutton’s election pledges to “slash climate change policies” and cut 41,000 public servants.
Pointing to a 2019 election result that had defied the opinion polls by returning a conservative government, Dutton said on Friday he could still win.
An Australian Financial Review/Freshwater poll on Friday had Labor leading 51.5%-48.5%.
Albanese said on Friday he would not strike policy deals for support from minor parties or independents, as occurred in the most recent minority Labor government in 2010.
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