New Zealand Prime Minister Chris Hipkins has teased a last-gasp outing for Jacinda Ardern as campaigning descends on Wellington ahead of this weekend's election.
Labour's bid for a third term, already in need of a kickstart, has also become slightly tougher due to the death of a candidate for the Port Waikato seat.
Neil Christensen, from the right-wing ACT party, died on Sunday, necessitating a by-election on November 25.
However, the same electoral law dictates Saturday's general election will still return 120 MPs, and the by-election will send a 121st MP to Wellington.
Given the Port Waikato electorate is a safe National seat, the by-election is highly likely to produce a "bonus MP" for the centre-right opposition.
University of Otago law professor Andrew Geddis said the rule was a "throwback to the old first-past-the-post days" before New Zealand's shift to a proportional representation electoral system in 1996.
"This really could change the overall result of the election ... it could give the right bloc the one extra seat to govern," he told Newstalk ZB.
Polls put National on track to win the election, with the shape of their coalition in the balance.
Most recent polls have National and its preferred campaign partner ACT falling short of a majority, polling around 59 or 60 seats together, requiring populists New Zealand First's numbers to get over 50 per cent.
With five days left in the campaign, parties are frantically hitting as many towns and cities as they can to win over voters and enthuse their base to get out and vote.
Party leaders of the Greens, ACT, NZ First and the Maori Party will end Tuesday in Christchurch for a debate hosted by newspaper The Press.
Polls show one-third of Kiwis intend to give their vote to a minor party, led by the Greens on 13 per cent.
National leader Chris Luxon is taking in a three-region swing, visiting Nelson and Blenheim on the South Island, before heading to the capital.
In Wellington, he held a rally in front of blue-clad party faithful.
"New Zealand is an amazing country, do not give up hope on New Zealand... give up on our hopeless government which is what we've had for the last six years," he said.
Mr Hipkins began his Tuesday in Auckland with a round of media interviews before heading to Wellington's north, visiting a Waikanae supermarket he used to stock bread at.
Labour's central message is an attack on National's alternative budget, which includes dubious new taxes and cuts to the public sector funding tax relief.
"The hole in National's fiscal plan means they need to cut far more than they have admitted. This will result in deep cuts to jobs and the services New Zealanders rely on," Labour finance spokesman Grant Robertson said.
Labour believes National will need to make deeper than promised cuts because of a dodgy budget, up to $NZ3 billion ($A2.8 billion) each year, producing 6000 public sector job losses.
It also argues National's welfare changes would mean more children in poverty as landlords benefit from tax tweaks.
National finance spokeswoman Nicola Willis called that "recycled rubbish" from "a government with no record to run on".
"New Zealand faces the prospect of never-ending deficits and government debt rising forever if Labour is re-elected", she said.
The tit-for-tat is typical of the turgid six-week campaign.
Advance voter turnout is down from 2020, when Kiwis gave Ms Ardern's Labour a majority in parliament and its biggest share of the vote since World War II.
Ms Ardern, living in the United States after taking up roles at Harvard University, has not participated in this year's campaign.
Instead, Labour has turned to her predecessor Helen Clark for support, with the three-term prime minister speaking at Labour's campaign launch and fronting an advertisement this week.
Mr Hipkins told TVNZ, "... We'll see a little bit more of Jacinda in the next few days".
National has also rolled out a former prime minister to bolster its chances, with John Key telling voters not to vote for NZ First leader Winston Peters.
