Kate Rose is at the Labor results event in Melbourne for the BBC. She's just sent us this image of the reaction to the news from the ABC that former PM Tony Abbott was predicted to lose his seat in Sydney. "Cheers and grins erupting here," she says.

Gary Nunn
BBC News, Sydney

Independent MP Kerryn Phelps last year replaced former PM Malcolm Turnbull in the once safe Liberal seat of Wentworth in one of the largest swings against a sitting government in Australian political history.

She told me earlier a win again today was "almost like asking for a second miracle". She has been in the federal parliament for just seven months, during which time she was instrumental in securing legislation allowing asylum seekers detained in off-shore detention to come to Australia for urgent medical treatment.

That small "miracle" requires her to retain or increase a 1.2% margin in a seat which, before her, has only even been Liberal. As counting started, she remained hopeful. "It’s been a privilege to represent the people of Wentworth and I hope to continue to do so," she said, as final voters of the day trickle out around her.

Despite some gloomy early indications elsewhere, Scott Morrison appears to be faring better in Tasmania. The prime minister began the day there, and has poured much effort into local campaigns.

Early counting shows the government is a good chance of picking up Braddon and Bass, two seats currently held by Labor.

What happens now the polls have closed in most places? Here's a helpful little video from the Australian Electoral Commission explaining how every vote gets counted and when we can say for sure who has won the Game of... sorry Australian election 2019.

The polls are still open in Western Australia, but counting has already begun in the rest of the country. Just over 10% of the vote's been counted. Here are some numbers:

• There are 151 seats up for grabs in the lower house.
• To win a majority government a party needs 76 seats.
• A lot of these are seats are considered safe - the candidate won't lose. So according to ABC News, 130 seats are in question.
• The first exit poll indicated a Labor win but there's still a long night of counting ahead.
• 40 Senate seats are also up for grabs.

Tony Abbott, the prime minister who was ousted by Malcolm Turnbull (who was then replaced by Scott Morrison), is in real danger of losing his seat in Warringah, on Sydney's north shore, Australia media are reporting, based on early counting.

Despite losing the top job in 2015, Mr Abbott had remained popular in his constituency. But he has faced a very targeted campaign, using the slogan "Time's Up Tony", from left-leaning vote activists highlighting his and his party's lack of climate action credentials. And he's facing real competition from independent candidate Zali Steggall.

Warringah - one of Australia's wealthiest electorates - has been a Liberal safe seat for more than two decades so Mr Abbott losing would be hugely significant for him. And a real personal defeat for the former PM.

Thanks to everyone who's followed along so far. Some of you have sent in questions:

Courtney Daniel asks: Will both houses be elected today, and what role does the Senate have in deciding who will be PM?

All 151 members of the House of Representatives and about half of the Senate, 40 lawmakers, will be elected.

The party of government - and thus the prime minister - is chosen by results in the lower house alone. The magic number for a majority is 76 seats.

Luis Quinones asks: Do Australians vote for a party list, a particular candidate or a prime minister specifically?

In the lower house, people vote for specific candidates - most are party-aligned, and marked as such on the ballot.

In the Senate, voters can either directly choose candidates (voting "below the line") or a party ("above the line") which distributes preferences on their behalf.

Henry Jacobs
BBC News, Sydney

Polls have also closed in the Northern Territory, a sparsely populated federal territory that is home to Uluru/Ayers Rock and thousands of square miles of desert.

The key seat of Lingiari covers 99.99% of the region, with the exception of Darwin city, and also includes the Commonwealth Territories of Christmas and Cocos (Keeling) Islands.

Labor MP Warren Snowdon has held the seat since its inception in 2001 and is being challenged by the Country Liberal Party's Jacinta Price - the first Indigenous woman to contest the seat for a major party.

A change of electoral boundaries has given Ms Price a chance of overturning Labor's 8.2%, but a key factor will be voter turnout - with just 70% of eligible indigenous residents on the electoral roll and even fewer likely to cast their vote.

It's all go now at Sydney Town Hall, as the BBC's Simon Atkinson tweets.

The Nine/Galaxy exit poll is predicting a win for Bill Shorten, with a 2.5% swing to his party.

Jessica Elwood of Ipsos - which has not given an exit poll - tells the BBC she also expects Labor to win.

Ms Elwood says the race appeared to narrow during the last week of campaigning, but when asked, only a third of people thought Scott Morrison's government deserved another go.

For the newcomers to Australian politics, sausage sizzles are a central part of election day. You vote, then you get yourself a democracy sausage, usually with onions and a charity donation on top.

So, we have some democracy sausage photos to keep you going until the main course of the results.

As the chart below shows, the nation's population is heavily concentrated in the eastern states.

So, if there's a strong swing to a particular party, it may not be hours before we start seeing results.

Officials have warned, however, that record levels of early voting may actually slow down the counting process - we'll have to wait and see.

How Australia is changing - in 11 charts

Henry Jacobs
BBC News, Sydney

There are just five seats in Tasmania, but with four of them held by Labor and one by an independent, Prime Minister Scott Morrison's early morning appearance today in the marginal northwest electorate of Braddon didn't come as a major surprise.

Labor's Justine Keay holds the seat by a slender margin of 1.7% after being re-elected in a by-election last year following her disqualification for holding dual citizenship.

The Liberal candidate, beef farmer Gavin Pearce, has said he's hoping Mr Morrison's visit would be enough to swing the seat in favour of the Liberals.

But Ms Keay has talked down his chances - saying "no-one really knows who he is... I've defeated the Liberal candidate twice in two years. To do it a third time in three years would be a good feat for me."

The seat of Bass is also highly volatile - changing hands in the last three elections.

The BBC's Simon Atkinson says election officials at the town hall are expecting a rush for the last half hour of voting - people can cast a ballot as long as they’re in the queue by 18:00. Staff say they hope to start counting by 18:30.

Tim McDonald
BBC News, Brisbane

Queensland is hotly contested electoral turf. Of the 30 seats in this state, 12 are held by a small and very losable majority - eight of them are on margins of less than 2%.

In Dawson the margin is 3.4%. The sitting government MP George Christensen has been the subject of negative headlines over the amount of time he has spent overseas in Manila with his Filipina fiancée.

Nearby is the seat of Herbert, which Labor claimed by just 37 votes in 2016. Further south, Capricornia and Flynn are both held narrowly by the government. In Brisbane, Labor has its eyes on five marginal government seats - including Dickson, held by Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton.

"Labor has not always polled well in Queensland, so if the government's going to change, they need to do well here," said Prof Anne Tiernan, a politics expert at Griffith University.

Read more on how the weird and wonderful politics of Queensland could be key to this election.

Image source, AFP

Kate Rose
Melbourne

Victoria's leader, Daniel Andrews, has previously boasted that he oversees the "most progressive" government in the most progressive state.

Almost 82% of Victorians voted in the postal vote for marriage equality in 2017, and nearly 65% were in favour - the highest in the nation, bar the Australian Capital Territory.

Mr Andrews, a Labor premier, recorded a thumping victory in a state election last year. It was a shattering result for the Liberals and immediately scrutinised as to whether Mr Morrison could suffer a similar drop in Victoria in today's election.

Australia's second most populous state, Victoria is a key test of the government's so-called identity crisis in bridging its moderate and conservative wings.

The state has seen visits from Mr Morrison, who conspicuously chose the state capital, Melbourne, as the site of his campaign launch.

Labor and the Greens have been keenly targeting Victoria and its many seats on offer.

Image source, Getty Images

Issues like violence against women, workplace sexual harassment, and sexism in politics have all sparked public conversation in the past year.

The BBC has recently explored the treatment of women MPs in Australia:

• The women fighting Australia's macho politics

Jozefa Sobski from the Women’s Electoral Lobby says: "The policies the Government is taking to the election will not make a significant difference to women’s equality as they have not made any commitments that will significantly change women’s lives.”

“We are expecting a significant change in direction on policies affecting women if there is a change in government."

Here's a nod to young voters. Labor leader Bill Shorten went for his final campaign run this morning wearing a T-shirt emblazoned: "Vote 1 Chloe Shorten's husband".It's a reference to a popular satirical sketch by comedic duo Freudian Nip, external at SBS, who've seized on Chloe Shorten's likeability in a tongue-in-cheek way.

Image source, AFP/Getty Images

It's just after 17:00 here in Sydney (07:00 GMT) so people in this time zone have under an hour left to vote. They've had three weeks to do so, so little excuse if you can't make it now. And if they don't without a good excuse, they'll get a A$20 (£11; $13) fine.

Tim McDonald is in Queensland for the BBC. He's been speaking to voters in Townsville, a marginal seat, about what they hoped for from the election. They want jobs, but it's fair to say there's not a lot of confidence in politics here.

The unique politics of Queensland