Sawt Falasteen - Counting begins in Australia's nail-biter election

Election frontrunner Anthony Albanese asked voters to give his centre-left party a "crack" at running the country, and urged people to spurn "divisive" Prime Minister Scott Morrison.

Albanese, the 59-year-old Labor Party leader, said he was "very positive" about the outcome as Australians went to the polls in their millions.

The long and often bitter campaign has focused on the character of the two leaders, with policy largely put on the back burner.

Morrison -- behind in the pre-election polls -- has been buoyed by a resurgent post-lockdown economy and a 48-year-low jobless rate.

He has painted his rival as a "loose unit" who is unfit to steer the economy, but has been plagued by low personal approval ratings, accusations of dishonesty and of putting spin before substance.

Albanese -- who himself has been described as bland and uninspiring -- focused heavily on Morrison's alleged failings in the final days of the campaign.

Australians "want someone who is fair dinkum, someone who will 'fess up if they make a mistake" said the Labor leader.

After three years marked by punishing bushfires, drought, floods and the pandemic, Morrison will have to beat the odds to emerge victorious.

The 54-year-old has not led in the polls for months, and entered election day with a duo of surveys putting his Liberal National Party coalition six points behind Labor, well outside the margin of error.

Young Australians are increasingly angry at the government's pro-coal policies and a housing market that is largely out of reach.

"I grew up in a community that's been really heavily affected by the fires and the floods over the past five years," first-time voter Jordan Neville said in Melbourne.

"To see something be done about that and stop that happening again would be amazing."

But Morrison has defied the pundits before. Three years ago he was behind in the polls but emerged with what he himself called a "miracle election win".

This time, though, the gap is a little wider.

- 'We have plans' -

"I believe we have the wind at our back, and I'm very positive about a good outcome," Albanese said after casting his vote at a town hall in the Sydney suburb of Marrickville with his son Nathan, partner Jodie Haydon and pet dog Toto.

"I'm in it to change the country and that's what I intend to do," he said.

Albanese has pledged to end Australia's foot-dragging on climate change, help people struggling with soaring prices, and hold a referendum on giving indigenous people an institutional voice in national policymaking.

"Give Labor a crack. We have plans for this country," Albanese said as the day began.

Speaking in Adelaide during a four-state election-eve blitz, Albanese welled up as he reflected on his personal journey -- from the son of a single mum living in Sydney public housing to the threshold of the highest office in the land.

"It says a lot about this country," he said Friday, voice cracking with emotion. "That someone from those beginnings... can stand before you today, hoping to be elected prime minister of this country tomorrow."

If elected, Albanese notes he would be the first Australian with a non-Anglo or Celtic surname to be prime minister.

Voting is compulsory, enforced with a Aus$20 (US$14) fine but also rewarded at many booths that fired up barbecues to offer people a "democracy sausage".

The election will decide who controls the House of Representatives, the Senate and who lives in the prime minister's "Lodge".

More than seven million people cast early or postal ballots, according to the Australian Electoral Commission, almost half the electorate.

- 'Humility' -

Children greeted Morrison excitedly as he arrived with his wife and two daughters to cast a vote at a school in Sydney's Lilli Pilli suburb.

Asked how he wanted to be remembered if he lost the election, the prime minister told reporters: "That will be for others to determine."

Morrison said he approached his job with a "great sense of humility" and respect for Australians "and that is the same spirit in which I continue to seek to do their job."

On Saturday his party launched a last gasp bid to win votes by mass-messaging voters in several election battlegrounds with news that an "illegal boat" had been from Sri Lanka had been intercepted on its way to Australia.

Labor called the move "desperate and shameless".

Both sides are trying to woo voters fretting about the rising cost of living, with annual inflation shooting up to 5.1 percent and wages failing to keep up in real terms.

- 'Least fair-dinkum' -

In wealthy suburban areas, many voters are being wooed by a band of more than 20 independent candidates, mostly women, offering conservative policies coupled with strong action on climate change.

Morrison has resisted calls to cut carbon emissions faster by 2030 and supports mining and burning coal into the distant future to boost the economy.

Albanese has also promised action on corruption -- after Morrison failed to deliver a promised federal anti-graft watchdog.

An Ipsos poll released late Thursday and a YouGov/Newspoll released Friday gave Labor a 53-47 percent lead over the coalition on a two-party preferred basis.

O.Salim--SF-PST