Australian Federal election 2025 recap: Anthony Albanese wins landslide, hails ‘profound opportunity’
Scroll down for to recap the day’s events as they happened.
Key events
03 May 2025 - 09:21 PM
Ali France thanks the people of Dickson
03 May 2025 - 09:15 PM
Abbott says Liberal party will rebuild
03 May 2025 - 09:13 PM
Sarah Henderson: Peter Dutton is a great loss
03 May 2025 - 09:01 PM
Tom White tells supporters the count is not over
03 May 2025 - 08:21 PM
PM: Tomorrow the work begins
03 May 2025 - 08:20 PM
PM pays tribute to son and fiancee
03 May 2025 - 08:14 PM
Albo whips out the Medicare card
03 May 2025 - 08:13 PM
State of play: Victoria
03 May 2025 - 08:12 PM
PM: Govt will tackle climate change and close the gap
03 May 2025 - 08:10 PM
PM: This is time of ‘profound opportunity’
03 May 2025 - 08:07 PM
PM makes pledge to Australians
03 May 2025 - 08:07 PM
PM makes pledge to Australians
03 May 2025 - 08:05 PM
PM pays tribute to Peter Dutton
03 May 2025 - 08:03 PM
PM addresses global challenges
03 May 2025 - 08:02 PM
PM: Australia voted for Australian values
03 May 2025 - 08:00 PM
Albanese: Serving as PM ‘greatest honour’
03 May 2025 - 07:58 PM
Wong: Tonight a ‘new chapter’ for Australia
03 May 2025 - 07:55 PM
Penny Wong introducing the PM
03 May 2025 - 07:51 PM
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese about to take stage for victory speech
03 May 2025 - 07:46 PM
Jubilant scenes at Labor HQ ahead of PM’s speech
03 May 2025 - 07:41 PM
Dutton signs off with a word about his love for Australia
03 May 2025 - 07:40 PM
Dutton pays tribute to family
03 May 2025 - 07:37 PM
Dutton: ‘It’s been a great honour to lead’
03 May 2025 - 07:35 PM
Dutton: ‘We didn’t do well enough during the campaign’
03 May 2025 - 07:34 PM
Peter Dutton begins concession speech
03 May 2025 - 07:28 PM
Labor re-elected for a second term with a majority
03 May 2025 - 07:25 PM
Joyce defends Dutton after he loses Dickson
03 May 2025 - 07:17 PM
Chalmers, McGrath comment on Dutton loss
03 May 2025 - 07:10 PM
Price: Labor campaign built on lies
03 May 2025 - 07:10 PM
Labor gains two in Queensland from the Greens
03 May 2025 - 07:05 PM
Chalmers: Albanese to serve full term and run for third
03 May 2025 - 06:58 PM
Labor ahead in early counting in Bullwinkel
03 May 2025 - 06:47 PM
Murray Watt: Liberal party will need to front up
03 May 2025 - 06:46 PM
Hanson says voters ‘not happy’ with Dutton
03 May 2025 - 06:46 PM
Peter Dutton loses seat: 7NEWS
03 May 2025 - 06:45 PM
Jason Clare says its been a bitter battle for Blaxland
03 May 2025 - 06:45 PM
Kate Chaney arrives at count party
03 May 2025 - 06:28 PM
South Australia swings towards Labor
03 May 2025 - 06:25 PM
Labor picks up three seats from Liberals
03 May 2025 - 06:18 PM
Anthony Albanese wins second term as Prime Minister
03 May 2025 - 06:14 PM
Guests slow to filter in at Dutton HQ
03 May 2025 - 06:02 PM
No path to Government for the Coalition: 7NEWS
03 May 2025 - 06:00 PM
Polls close in WA
03 May 2025 - 05:49 PM
Victoria holds steady, but Nationals challenge Labor MP in Bendigo
03 May 2025 - 05:37 PM
Peter Dutton faces challenge in his own seat
03 May 2025 - 05:22 PM
Liberals under threat in blue-ribbon Bradfield, and independent challenges minister
03 May 2025 - 05:17 PM
Queensland Greens fading
03 May 2025 - 05:13 PM
Early trend favours Labor in Tassie
03 May 2025 - 05:09 PM
NSW - An hour in to counting
03 May 2025 - 04:57 PM
Labor under threat in Canberra seat
03 May 2025 - 04:48 PM
Adam Bandt labels election ‘battle of the band-aid’
03 May 2025 - 04:32 PM
McGrath: Result tonight unlikely
03 May 2025 - 04:21 PM
First seats called
03 May 2025 - 04:09 PM
Where are Albanese and Dutton?
03 May 2025 - 04:00 PM
Polls close
03 May 2025 - 03:52 PM
Early voting proves popular
03 May 2025 - 03:48 PM
What to watch for: Tasmania, NT and … Canberra
03 May 2025 - 03:44 PM
What to watch for: Western Australia
03 May 2025 - 03:37 PM
What to watch for: Queensland
03 May 2025 - 03:32 PM
What to watch for: Victoria
03 May 2025 - 03:28 PM
What to watch for: New South Wales
03 May 2025 - 03:24 PM
What to watch for: South Australia
03 May 2025 - 03:03 PM
Labor volunteer ’hip and shoulders’ Liberal volunteer
03 May 2025 - 02:43 PM
Ex-WA Labor premier Mark McGowan handing out flyers
03 May 2025 - 02:40 PM
Democracy sausages in short supply
03 May 2025 - 01:43 PM
The moments that have shaped the election campaign
03 May 2025 - 01:18 PM
Tight contest: Curtin may come down to just a few hundred votes
03 May 2025 - 01:11 PM
Ultimate election guide: How it works, key seats to watch and what it all means
03 May 2025 - 12:41 PM
‘Albo, Albo’: Chants greet PM as he makes third polling booth stop
03 May 2025 - 12:10 PM
Dutton banking on ‘quiet Australians’ as he casts ballot Dickson
03 May 2025 - 11:59 AM
Anthony Albanese casts his vote in Federal election
03 May 2025 - 11:50 AM
How is voting go around Australia? Let’s take a look
03 May 2025 - 11:34 AM
Gaza conflict an issue among some voters in PM’s Grayndler seat
03 May 2025 - 11:18 AM
What voters are saying in the PM’s electorate
03 May 2025 - 11:17 AM
Voters in PM’s Grayndler seat cite housing, climate crisis as major issues
03 May 2025 - 11:10 AM
Wilkie highlights Australia’s voting system
03 May 2025 - 11:03 AM
Where is Hanson during the WA how-to-vote debacle?
03 May 2025 - 10:50 AM
One Nation how to vote error in WA
03 May 2025 - 10:48 AM
Sunny skies in Brisbane as Watt supports local Labor
03 May 2025 - 10:33 AM
Steggall votes, pleads for voters to keep seat Independent
03 May 2025 - 10:23 AM
Ben Small’s final push for Forrest
03 May 2025 - 10:16 AM
Tom White arrives to vote in Curtin’s close race
03 May 2025 - 10:14 AM
Coalition divide denied as Bullwinkel race goes down to the wire
03 May 2025 - 09:59 AM
Forrest’s independent cast her vote, says attacks on her have no truth
03 May 2025 - 09:56 AM
Sage sausage advice from Madeleine King
03 May 2025 - 09:49 AM
Roger Cook, Madeleine King enjoy a democracy sausage variant
03 May 2025 - 09:33 AM
Madeleine King's royal entrance with the Premier
03 May 2025 - 09:31 AM
Albany voters heading to the polls at Mt Lockyer Primary School
03 May 2025 - 09:30 AM
Queensland premier throws support behind Dutton as he heads home
03 May 2025 - 09:17 AM
Albo, Dutton wrap up campaigning in key state
03 May 2025 - 08:45 AM
‘See you in caucus’: PM eyes Labor win in Liberal founder named seat
03 May 2025 - 08:40 AM
Dutton shares very long handshake at Melbourne petrol station
03 May 2025 - 08:37 AM
Dutton stops off at 17th petrol station
03 May 2025 - 08:05 AM
Polling booths now open across all of Australia
03 May 2025 - 07:58 AM
WATCH: Albanese, Dutton make final pitch to voters
03 May 2025 - 07:42 AM
‘No way in the world that Labor can form a majority’: Dutton
03 May 2025 - 07:36 AM
Dutton admits politics ‘comes at price’ personally
03 May 2025 - 07:19 AM
Everything you need to know about the democracy sausage
03 May 2025 - 07:11 AM
Dutton’s campaign completes 1.5 laps of Earth’s equator
03 May 2025 - 06:54 AM
Albo and Dutton break it down on social media
03 May 2025 - 06:28 AM
Dutton warns of disaster while making case to become PM
03 May 2025 - 06:14 AM
Voting booths open on Federal election day
03 May 2025 - 06:08 AM
Dutton’s election day morning in photos
03 May 2025 - 06:04 AM
Albanese’s election day morning in photos
03 May 2025 - 05:55 AM
Final poll points to historic election outcome
03 May 2025 - 05:40 AM
Dutton tells Melbourne he ‘can reduce crime’
03 May 2025 - 05:35 AM
Albanese reveals his secret election weapon
03 May 2025 - 05:30 AM
What nice thing Albanese has to say about Dutton
03 May 2025 - 05:27 AM
What nice thing Dutton has to say about Albanese.
03 May 2025 - 05:23 AM
Albanese says he has been ‘working very hard’ and wants to do ‘better’
03 May 2025 - 05:19 AM
Albanese says he has left ‘nothing on the field’
03 May 2025 - 05:09 AM
‘I want to win today’, says Dutton
03 May 2025 - 05:05 AM
Dutton ‘humble’ after ‘hectic’ campaign
03 May 2025 - 04:59 AM
‘You should never give up’, says Dutton on election day
03 May 2025 - 04:56 AM
Where is Anthony Albanese of election day?
03 May 2025 - 04:44 AM
How to win the Federal election
03 May 2025 - 04:41 AM
Where is Peter Dutton on election day?
03 May 2025 - 04:31 AM
The one Aussie state that could hold the keys to the entire election
03 May 2025 - 04:20 AM
Final poll shows Labor on track for Federal election win
Early trend favours Labor in Tassie
After more than a decade of despair in the Apple Isle, the early numbers from Tasmania have swung to Labor, including in Braddon, where sititng Senator Anne Urquhart is in a strong position against the Liberals.
In Lyons, former State Labor leader Rebecca White has a swing of 8 per cent towards her and would see the Government hold the seat.
NSW - An hour in to counting
Labor has eked out an early lead in the marginal seat of Gilmore, with Fiona Phillips leading former Transport Minister Andrew Constance.
The Government is also leading in Fowler, with Tu Le ahead of Independent MP Dai Le.
David Littleproud: ‘Hope for us in Bendigo’
Nationals leader David Littleproud has told Sky News there is “hope for us in Bendigo”.
He added regional Australians had felt the effects of the Labor party the most.
“I am proud of the Nationals campaign I think it’s been flawless,” he said.
Labor under threat in Canberra seat
Labor MP David Smith is facing a threat from an independent in his Canberra seat of Bean.
With early counting underway, Jessie Price is polling in first, with Smith trailing behind. In an ominous sign for the Labor MP, the Liberal and Green candidates have preferenced Price ahead of him.
Adam Bandt labels election ‘battle of the band-aid’
Greens leader Adam Bandt told Sky News the major parties’ campaigns have been a “battle of the band-aid”.
“People were after a party that’s tackling the big issues,” he said.
“There is a growing sense that we can’t keep voting for the same parties and expecting a different result.”
McGrath: Result tonight unlikely
LNP Senator for Queensland James McGrath doesn’t think Australia will be finding out who the next Prime Minister is by tonight.
Speaking to ABC, Mr McGrath said there are too many seats that will be “too close to call”, including the tight race in WA’s Curtin electorate.
“There’s a number of really unique and different contests across the country,” he said.
“A number of seats are gig to be a knifefight . . . seats like Pearce and Curtin in WA.”
First seats called
In the seat count on the top of the website, you can see we have made some initial calls in the safest seats across Australia.
For Labor, using 7NEWS analysis of AEC data, we have called 18 seats, including Anthony Albanese’s seat of Grayndler, Deputy Prime Minister RIchard Marles’ seat of Corio while on the Liberal side, the Queensland seats of Wide Bay, Maranoa and Moncrieff are set to stay blue.
Where are Albanese and Dutton?
After criss-crossing the country for five weeks, both Anthony Albanese and Peter Dutton stated election day in Melbourne - as part of both parties’ bids to win over the battleground state.
The Prime Minister then flew to Sydney, where he is due to speak to supporters later tonight, while the Opposition Leader has gone home to Brisbane.
Voters will likely next hear from both of them when the result becomes clear.
Polls close
As polls close across the east coast, counting will start immediately, with the first results rolling in from smaller, regional booths first between 6.30pm and 7pm.
These will likely favour the Coalition, before the results from metropolitan booths even out the race. By 8pm, when the last polls will close in WA, Australia should have a clearer picture where the count is going.
The Coalition needs a swing of 5 per cent, and needs to make early gains in Victoria if it is to hold Government.
Labor needs to show it is hanging onto everything it has, and picking up seats in Queensland, South Australia and Tasmania.
The biggest booths to be counted, prepoll centres from across the country will flow from around 8.30pm, with the biggest, such as Coorparoo in Queensland which took 25,000 pre-election votes, will fall later in the night.
Voting remains open for another half an hour in South Australia and the Northern Territory, and for another two hours in WA.
By the time results trickle in from WA, the trend should be clear as to whether we’re looking at a potential Coalition victory, or a second term for Labor.
Early voting proves popular
Expectations that Australians would flock to prepoll booths proved correct, with 46 per cent of voters either voting before Saturday in person or by mail.
More than 6.7 million Aussies voted in person over the nine days booths were open, including more than 1.09 million on Friday, while a further 1.6 million filled out a postal vote.
Two Queensland electorates - Hinkler and Fisher - recorded the most early votes, with 64 and 62 per cent of enrolled voters choosing the have their say before Saturday.
In 43 electorates, more than half of voters voted early.
