Prime Minister Scott Morrison is urging voters to stick with the Coalition amid global uncertainty.
Mr Morrison reiterated now was not the time for Australian's to vote for Labor given the pressures on the economy.
Campaigning in the seat of Cowan in Perth, held by Labor's Anne Aly on a wafer-thin 0.9 per cent margin, the prime minister announced funding to increase Australia's defence capability.
Mr Morrison said his government's $270 billion investment in Australia's defence capabilities this decade included a "strong pipeline of workers" in local industry.
"If (Opposition Leader) Anthony Albanese thinks the campaign is hard, I've got news for him: government is a lot harder," he told reporters on Friday.
"My warning to Australians is exactly the same that I've said all along: we are facing some of the most serious economic and international security challenges that Australians have faced."
In an address to an event in Perth, Mr Morrison will say leadership is drawn upon knowing your own beliefs.
"And the values that underpin your beliefs," he says.
"Because when you face uncertainty that's what guides you. That's what you turn to.
"For me, it starts with family, community and country. With Australians."
Mr Morrison will warn voters an Albanese government will mean a weaker economy.
"That is a risk that Australia can still not afford," he says.
Meanwhile, Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese has been accused of not being across key elements of Labor's policy during the campaign, but has pitched his "no one left behind, no one held back" promise to ease cost of living pressures.
Mr Albanese in Sydney on Friday said the Liberal Party is divided and led by a prime minister who many MPs do not want campaigning with them.
"They're led by a man who a whole lot of his own frontbench don't want anywhere near their seat and don't want to appear with in public," he said.
Mr Albanese promised a Labor government would address cost of living pressures while touring a community volunteer centre in his own electorate of Grayndler.
"What we need isn't just cost of living relief during an election campaign that disappears once people have cast their vote, what we actually need is strategies and plans," he said.
Mr Albanese said if elected, Labor would review all current government expenses by the end of the year to find where spending could be improved.
New research shows cost of living is the main concern for Australians casting their vote on May 21.
Almost two-thirds of voters want reducing the cost of living to be a top priority for the next federal government, an Australian National University survey found.
Of 3500 voters surveyed, 64.7 per cent thought the high cost of living needed to be urgently addressed and outranked all other major policy considerations.
