Unlike most previous elections, the topic of immigration has barely been mentioned by mainstream parties this campaigning season.

Prof Anne Tiernan, a political scientist at Griffith University, says that's partly because of the mosque shootings in Christchurch, and the condemnation of Senator Fraser Anning after he blamed them on Muslim immigration.

Gary Nunn
BBC News, Sydney

Matthew Thompson is running for the Greens in the lower house seat of Sydney. He has talked a lot in his campaign about how politics dulls people down, and the growing need he has perceived from the electorate for authenticity.

He says he wants to make politics accessible and fun: "My generation aren’t paying attention to politics because it's boring. Nobody's talking to them in the language my friends and I use." He has heard from voters that they think he’s brave and bold. "A lot of queer people have reached out to me this election to say how inspiring it’s been to see someone like them represented and reflected in politics."

Image source, Getty Images

A key issue for indigenous voters is constitutional recognition and a national treaty - the subject of long-running political debate and paralysis.

Australia is the only Commonwealth country that does not have a treaty with its indigenous populations.

In 2017, the government rejected a landmark proposal to have an indigenous body in parliament, enshrined in the constitution, to advise on indigenous legislation. Labor has been more open to the idea.

"The Australian public is way ahead of their politicians in being ready to see change at long last," Paul Wright from the group Australians for Native Title and Reconciliation told the BBC earlier this week.

"The next Australian government must end the kicking of the can down the road on constitutional reform."

Indigenous leaders call for formal 'voice'

The 'mind-blowing' struggle for treaty

We mentioned earlier that one punter has placed a six-figure bet on Labor sweeping into power.

Well earlier this month, another man went even further and placed a cool A$1m wager with bookmaker Ladbrokes - also on a Bill Shorten victory.

Aussies do love a bet, and some reckon the bookies are even more accurate than the polls.

So what are the odds?

In the dying hours of the race, Australian bookmaker Sportsbet has Labor at $1.10 and the ruling Coalition at $7.00. Ladbrokes' odds are even wider - Labor is at $1.08, while the ruling party is at $8.00.

The polls are predicting a tighter race - 51.5% to Labor, 48.5% to the government in the election day Newspoll result.

The BBC's Danny Vincent is in Chisholm and asked Gladys Liu about those controversial Liberal posters in Chinese, which used the same colours as the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) and told people "how" to vote, with Liberal first.

"The AEC has no problem with the signs so they don’t need to be taken down. If they have a problem they will handle it. The signs were authorised by the state director of the Liberal Party of Australia.

"The fact that they haven’t asked for the signs to be taken down means it’s fine."

Let's check in on Chisholm, that seat in Victoria where two Chinese-Australian women - Jennifer Yang and Gladys Liu - are running to be MPs in a historic election.

Total diversion this, but the election is obviously not the only contest that's got Australia on tenterhooks today. Tonight is the Eurovision Song Contest and improbable as it sounds, Australia is taking part for the fifth time.

Kate Miller-Heidke has made it through to the finals with her song Zero Gravity. So a lot of Australians - and let's assume a fair few candidates - are likely to be staying up through the early hours of tomorrow to see how she does.

The BBC's Gary Nunn spoke to her earlier this week about the meaning behind her song.

Kate Miller-Heidke sings on depression 'breakthrough'

Image source, Getty Images

Too young to vote but making themselves heard - these girls were outside a polling station in Manly, northern Sydney, urging people to "vote for the planet".

It's drawn little discussion during the campaign, but Labor leader Bill Shorten has vowed to put the republic debate back on the agenda if he wins power.

Australia held a referendum on severing ties with the British monarchy in 1999, when a majority of voters - about 55% - rejected it.

But Mr Shorten has said that he believes Australians will ultimately support a republic. He's vowed to hold a plebiscite, or informal vote, to gauge public interest in his first term of office.

Becoming a republic would require another referendum, however - so it's unlikely to happen quickly.

Image source, Getty Images

Henry Jacobs
BBC News, Sydney

Despite much of the focus of the campaign being on key seats in Melbourne and south-east Queensland, a number of rural and regional electorates will play a crucial part in determining the outcome of the election.

With many parts of the nation still feeling the effects of drought, voters in the bush are just as influenced by climate change as their inner-city compatriots - but opinions differ greatly when it comes to topics such as live animal exports, water access and mining.

Australia is one of the world's largest live sheep exporters, with millions of sheep sent to Indonesia and the Middle East every year. Labor has pledged to phase out the trade should it win government, while recent vegan protests led Prime Minister Scott Morrison to say the Coalition is firmly on the side of farmers.

In the southern New South Wales border seat of Farrer, water usage rights have been the key battleground. Liberal MP Sussan Ley holds the seat by a margin of 20.5%, but faces a stern challenge from independent Kevin Mack, who is running with the backing of irrigators.

In northern Queensland, both major parties are under fire for their lack of clear commitment to the coal industry with minor parties such as the One Nation hoping to capitalise in seats like Capricornia - home to the proposed Carmichael coal mine.

Australians are voting for all MP seats today and 40 seats in the upper house, the Senate. Senators serve six-year terms.

But while there are only 40 seats - the ballot paper is this size, and the process is complicated, with voters able either to choose every candidate in order of preference or let their preferred parties do some of that allocating for them.

Full rules are here, external, should you need them in the last few hours of voting.

If you’re just joining us, a very warm welcome to our Australian election live coverage. Here’s a rundown of the day so far. We’re now three hours away from polls closing at 1800 AEST/ 0800 GMT, five on the west coast.

• Prime Minister Scott Morrison is fighting for a third term for his centre-right Liberal-National coalition, promising economic stability and tax cuts.
• For weeks, the polls have forecast a close race, but the final Newspoll - publishing by The Australian newspaper - showed the Labor opposition party in front with 51.5% to 48.5% on a two-party preferred basis.
• Labor leader Bill Shorten has promised health, tax and environment reforms. He's been in his home state of Victoria, which his party is relying on for crucial seats.
• The economy and climate change have been the hot issues voiced by voters.

• Voting is compulsory. Early voters have already submitted more than four million votes. Officials estimate more than ten million votes will be cast today.

2019 Australia election: Polls open for 'generational' vote

Image source, Getty Images

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has tweeted his thanks to "the people I've met on the campaign trail". He adds that he's "taking nothing for granted". Maybe he's seen the poll forecasts which put the opposition Labor party narrowly in front earlier today.

Labor's Bill Shorten, meanwhile, has retweeted his promise to "end the chaos".

There's a historic battle going on in the electorate of Chisholm in Melbourne, where two Chinese-Australian women are going head to head. One of them is very likely to end up becoming the first Chinese-Australian in the House of Representatives.

The BBC's Danny Vincent was in the town earlier this week to find out what this means for locals and for Australia.

Kate Rose
Melbourne

The electorate of Higgins, in Melbourne’s south-eastern suburbs, contains some of the city’s priciest real estate. It’s been held by the Liberals - including former prime ministers Sir John Gorton and Harold Holt, and former treasurer Peter Costello - since its creation in 1949, and has never even gone to preferences.

Current MP Kelly O’Dwyer took over the seat in 2009, but an 8.5% swing to the Greens' Jason Ball at the 2016 election, and Ms O’Dwyer’s resignation, have buoyed the Greens and Labor in an area seen to be economically conservative but increasingly socially progressive.

Ms O’Dwyer was one of 12 women out of the 60 Liberal MPs, and confirmed allegations about the intimidation of women in the party during the tumultuous coup which brought down PM Malcolm Turnbull last year.

Why politics is toxic for Australia’s women

Someone has found a way to get their message across - this little climate message was scrawled inside the polling booth when one of our reporters went to cast their own vote.

Many voters would say it's bad enough if your chosen candidate loses, without risking a dent in your bank account as well. But according to Aussie bookmaker Sportsbet, one gambler felt confident enough to put A$850,000 ($583,000; £458,000) on Labor to win the election.

Sportsbet said the trend for the past two days has been to back Bill Shorten and his party, noting: "Our punter has waited until the eleventh hour to pull the trigger."

"If the money coming in for Labor is any indication, he'll be a happy man later on tonight," said the bookmaker's Richard Hummerston.

Of course, there's a good chance that person could instead be pretty despondent later on.

Henry Jacobs
BBC News, Sydney

The southern Victorian electorate of Corangamite, which includes the famous Bells Beach and Great Ocean Road, is held by Liberal MP Sarah Henderson.

Intriguingly, her 3.1% margin from the 2016 election has turned into a 0.3% margin favouring Labor hopeful Libby Coker after a recent change to the election boundaries.

Ms Henderson has been accused of "pork barreling" during the campaign - with constituents promised the equivalent of A$26,500 per person of spending in the area should the Coalition retain government. But, speaking to 7 News this morning, Ms Henderson said she was "proud" of her promises - insisting infrastructure proposals, such as a $2bn rail link with Melbourne, were "essential for the people of Corangamite".

Here's a figure from early on in campaigning. Egg Boy became a hero or villain, depending on your view, a few weeks ago after he smashed an egg on Fraser Anning, who sits in the Senate as an independent.

The egging happened shortly after Anning controversially said the Christchurch massacre - where a gunman killed 51 people at mosques in the New Zealand city - happened because of Muslim immigration.

Read the aftermath of that here: Senator cleared as teenager handed caution

Tim McDonald
BBC News, Brisbane

Kilian Boushel is an Irish immigrant voting in his third election in the fiercely contested seat of Dickson in Queensland, held by Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton.

He vowed to run in the next election for the "no more pamphlets party", adding "the millions of tons of rubbish that these guys have is just disgraceful".

He said his vote was partly motivated by sympathy for an asylum-seeking Sri Lankan family of four battling since March last year to stay in Australia. Although they've lived in the tiny Queensland town of Biloela for years, they arrived by boat, which makes them ineligible for refugee status under Australia’s tough border protection laws, which were for a while being enforced by Mr Dutton as immigration minister.

Mostly, though, he just think it’s time for a change, even if Mr Dutton "seems like a nice fella".