Eager Australians have chosen to skip election day and vote early, with cost-of-living pressures front of mind at the ballot box.
Early voting centres opened on Tuesday after the Easter long weekend, offering voters a chance to get in well before the May 3 election.
More than 230,000 voters were in and out by midday AEST, with expectations the 2022 first-day mark of 315,000 would be surpassed.
In the heart of Sydney, voters almost unanimously agreed cost of living was the biggest issue but were split on whether nuclear was the best way to lower energy bills.
The coalition has proposed building seven nuclear power plants at a cost of hundreds of billions of dollars without outlining spending cuts that might fund it.
Musician Hus Sali, 69, who will be overseas on election day, said action to bring down power prices that did not involve grants drove his vote.
"All the biggest countries in the world are using nuclear power, France exports nuclear power (and) Japan has nuclear power, there's never any issues with safety," he told AAP.
"I'm using less gas this year but my gas bill has doubled."
Healthcare worker Annika Cole, 62 this week, disagreed entirely.
"I lived through the 1970s in Sweden where the big election (issue) was to get rid of nuclear power," she told AAP.
"I'm totally against it and I think it's really dangerous.
"In this country where we have so much sun, it shouldn't be a problem."
Others, such as IT worker Pete Loy, 44, said electing a leader capable of managing US President Donald Trump was a deciding factor.
"I am concerned, like most people, with the way the world is going - there is a lot of uncertainty," he told AAP.
"I'm looking for a party less about what they're going to do here in Australia but how they're going to situate Australia in the broader scheme and how they will handle Trump and some other politicians."
Gary Davison, 67, was frustrated the government had been announcing housing plans on the campaign trail, rather than being more proactive in office.
Once an anomaly, rates of early voting have been surging in recent elections.
The massive uptake in early voting had stopped parties holding onto policy announcements until the last minute, public policy expert Kate Crowley said.
The shift towards early voting was less about politicians and more about what suited people's daily lives, the University of Tasmania academic said.
"There might be some who can't wait to get out and vote for their favourite politician, but that doesn't really ring true of the Australian public, except for political adherents who are really motivated," Associate Professor Crowley told AAP.
The electoral commission has 570 early voting centres throughout the country.
Australians can vote early in person or by post if unable to do so on election day because of distance, travel, work, illness, caring duties or other reasons.
Some 5.6 million people voted early at the 2022 federal election.
