Prime Minister Scott Morrison hailed a "miracle" after he defied the pollsters
With most votes counted, his Liberal-National Coalition is set to be the largest party
Australia's opposition Labor leader Bill Shorten admitted defeat, resigning the party leadership
Former Liberal Prime Minister Tony Abbott lost the seat he'd held since 1994
More than 16 million Australians were registered to vote, and some four million voted before election day
Emma Elsworthy
BBC News, Warringah, Sydney
Today in Election Voting Fashion, Alex Rathgeber, 36, artist from Manly and Tom Bunting, 36, architect from Manly, home to one of Sydney's most popular beaches.
(We'll be bringing you more election fashion as the day rolls on.)
Like election stats? Here are some election stats, via the Australia Electoral Commission:, external
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Phil Mercer
BBC News Sydney
Australian music royalty was also enjoying the taste of democracy in Sydney this morning. Tim Freedman, the legendary voice behind The Whitlams, told the BBC that he hoped the next parliament would include a formal voice for the nation's indigenous peoples.
The Whitlams, of course, took their name from former Labor PM Gough Whitlam. He was sensationally dismissed from power in 1975 by the Queen's representative, Governor-General Sir John Kerr - in arguably the biggest moment in Australian political history.
Phil Mercer
BBC News Sydney
Never underestimate the power of the democracy sausage.
Kathy, a voter in Sydney, told me that she'd come to cast her ballot at the Australia Street Infants School because of its gourmet barbecue. Staffed by parents, it's serving vegan sausages, and their meatier cousins, with sauerkraut, relish and rocket
Organisers hope to raise A$6,000 ($4,100; £3,230) for the small school.
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These dogs were doing their democratic duty - directing people towards the 'sausage sizzle' at a polling station in Sydney
This woman was voting in Sydney - she's a nurse and originally from the UK, and said her biggest concern was who was going to look after the healthcare system the best.
Australians are obliged by law to vote - but people make it fun, with cake stalls, refreshments and games on offer. (Though one of our British reporters at this polling station tells us there was no tea. Shocking.)
If you're just joining us or just checking in on Australian election day, here's what you need to know:
Kate Rose
Melbourne
The sausage sizzle - and voting - is well under way in Goldstein in Melbourne, Victoria, where incumbent Liberal MP Tim Wilson is expected to hold his safe seat (he won with nearly 62% of the two-party preferred vote at the last election) against the 28-year-old Labor challenger and the Greens' candidate.
Wilson made global headlines in 2017 when he used the first reading of marriage equality legislation to propose to his partner, Ryan Bolger, from the floor of parliament. They married in March last year.
Image source, ReutersTim Wilson proposed in parliament in 2017
Of course while most Australians lives in a few cities around the coast, about 6.5 million live in rural or remote areas.
These pictures are from the polling station at Quandialla Public School in the Central West region of NSW, sent to us by local businesswoman Sarah Ryan.
Just 21 children attend classes in the isolated town - situated in the electorate of Riverina - which relies heavily on wheat farming and sheep production.
The nearest policeman is located 55km (35 miles) away in the town of West Wyalong.
Image source, Sarah Ryan
Image source, Sarah Ryan
Tim McDonald
BBC News, Brisbane, NSW
It’s not just the parties that are out in force here in Brisbane.
At the Genesis Christian College, right-leaning activist groups Rite-On and Advance Australia are handing out leaflets encouraging people to vote, while down the road at the Pendicup Community Centre left-leaning activists GetUp are doing the same.
A little earlier, two planes flew over, each with banners which collectively told voters to "Ditch Dutton" - local MP and Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton - unless they want "sky high" health costs. Despite all the activity, the first piece of paper I was offered wasn’t a how-to-vote card, but a coupon for pizza. Vote 1 pepperoni!
Here's the first dog of the day - and appropriately it's a kelpie, traditionally used by Australian farmers for mustering sheep and cattle.
This one is throwing its support behind independent challenger for Cowper in New South Wales, Rob Oakeshott.
The National Party - the minor coalition member - holds the electorate by a margin of 4.6%. Its incoming candidate Patrick Conaghan is hoping to emulate the success of predecessor Luke Hartsuyker - who is retiring after serving continuously since 2001. But there's no guarantee he will, the BBC's Henry Jacobs reports.
Mr Oakeshott has focused heavily on health and aged care. A former MP in a different seat, he had his biggest political moment in 2010 when he backed then Labor prime minister Julia Gillard to form a minority government - after famously keeping the nation guessing for 17 minutes in a drawn-out speech.
Image source, Rob BlairEmma Elsworthy
BBC News, Warringah, Sydney
Tony Abbott is facing a real challenge in Warringah from Zali Steggall, an independent candidate and former Olympic skier.
Ms Steggall will need to cannibalise both disenchanted Liberal voters and Labor voters to unseat Mr Abbott. Ms Steggall, who describes herself as a fiscal conservative with a strong focus on climate change, is positioned to collect the growing "grey-area" conservative and progressive voters.
In a very Aussie image Zali Steggall (right) votes in Warringah as a volunteer walks past in flip flops (or thongs).
The seat of Warringah, on Sydney's north shore, is going to be be one to watch today. That seat is currently held by Tony Abbott, a former prime minister who was ousted by party rival Malcolm Turnbull in 2015 (who was later replaced by Scott Morrison - keep up).
It's wealthy - Warringah households bring home an average weekly salary of A$2,989 ($2,050; £1.600), compared to the Australia-wide average of A$1,734. The electorate also holds the nation's lowest proportion of residents aged 15-24 (9.9%), according to 2011 Census data.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison has begun his day in the nation’s smallest state, Tasmania. It has just five seats on offer, but they could prove pivotal – or so Mr Morrison in particular hopes. If he can win any of Braddon, Bass or Lyons - seats currently held by Labor which have drawn much interest - it would be a significant boost to his chances of retaining government.
Scott Morrison: Australia's conservative pragmatist
Image source, EPAAustralia has elections every three years - so today is nothing unusual. But they've also had a really fast turnover of leaders in the past decade, through a mix of leadership challenges in the parties and election losses. The Liberal-National Coalition won the last election but then nine months ago kicked out their leader, Malcolm Turnbull. Their new leader, Scott Morrison, is having to convince voters that they're a stable party now and there'll be no more leadership "spills". Bill Shorten has been Labor leader since 2013 - his job has been to convince the public his party is ready to lead.
Opposition leader Bill Shorten says he is confident that he can form a majority Labor government, and promises to lead a government that cares about climate change.
When asked why he hasn't done a last-minute dash around key constituencies, he says: "Bob Hawke died."
That was a significant impact on the last day of campaigning. Bob Hawke led the Labor party to four election wins through the 1980s and still holds the highest popularity rating of any Australian prime minister. He died on Thursday at the age of 89. That meant campaigning stopped briefly as all sides paid tribute.
Bill Shorten is speaking in Melbourne now. He says voters have a choice - do they want to keep voting for "chaos" and "tax breaks for the top end of town" - those have been his buzzwords throughout the campaign.
He says it's time for Australia to have "a government worthy of its people".
Tim McDonald
Reporter, Queensland
Voters are trickling into polling booths in the hotly contested marginal seat of Dickson, in Brisbane’s north, where the Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton is facing off against Labor’s Ali France. The LNP just squeaked in on a margin of 1.7% in 2016, and both parties clearly consider this a key seat, and it’s something of a symbolic seat given Mr Dutton’s high profile and hardline stances.
Bill Shorten has turned up at a polling station in Maribyrnong - a seat he's held since 2007. He's having a quick chat with some voters. He's been out this morning wearing a T-shirt encouraging people to "vote for Chloe Shorten's husband".
A short while ago polling stations opened in Western Australia, which is two hours behind the east coast. This year a record 96% of Australians are registered to vote and more than 90% are expected to do so. Though some already have - "pre-polling" stations have been open for three weeks. That's been a bit of an issue this year - we'll bring you more on that.
And you have to vote in Australia, by law. Here's our correspondent Hywel Griffith explaining how that works and whether it's popular. (Sorry, more sausages.)
Australia election: Fines, donkey votes and democracy sausages
Trevor was up early this morning, like all good Sydneysiders. He's staffing the sausage sizzle stand at the Australia Street Infant School polling station in Newtown. He was there at 7.30am prepping the all important onions.
