Incoming "teal" independent MPs have flagged their willingness to work with Labor in the event of a hung parliament, but say they will push the party on stronger emissions reduction targets.
Monique Ryan is projected to win the leafy Melbourne electorate of Kooyong from outgoing treasurer Josh Frydenberg — the first time the formerly blue-blood seat will leave Liberal hands since it was created.
On Sunday morning, Mr Frydenberg said he was waiting for about 16,000 postal votes to be counted before he conceded the seat formerly held by Liberal leaders Robert Menzies and Andrew Peacock.
"I've worked as hard as I could in my role as the member for Kooyong, which has been an absolute privilege to serve my community … that being said, when the tide goes out, it doesn't matter how hard you swim."
The ABC has called the seat for Dr Ryan, who said her team was "not calling it a win just yet".
Dr Ryan is one of the "teal" independents backed by a combination of grassroots support and the Climate 200 group who has swept to claim a number of blue-blood seats.
The candidates share broad policy objectives of climate action, federal integrity and equality, especially for women.
The nationwide swing against the Coalition, as well as the success of the independents and the Greens, has secured Anthony Albanese enough seats to become the next prime minister.
While it is clear the Labor party will be able to form government, it is not yet clear whether the party will be able to do so without crossbench support.
Most of the independents have flagged a willingness to negotiate with either major party.
Dr Ryan told the ABC's AM program Mr Albanese would need to be "prepared to come to the table on effective and immediate action on climate change, and on an ICAC that met with an appropriate model for that".
She confirmed this would mean a 60 per cent emissions reduction target by 2030 — much higher than Labor's current target of a 43 per cent reduction by 2030.
Urgent and immediate action is needed worldwide to prevent catastrophic damage from climate change, repeated and successive reports from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change have found.
Dr Ryan said she would not offer confidence and supply unless Labor pressed ahead with a more ambitious emissions target.
"The Labor party's current target that they've taken to the election is manifestly inadequate. And that, I hope, is the power of the crossbench, that we can drive further action on this most important of issues."
Dr Ryan said Climate 200 convenor Simon Holmes a Court would not be actively involved in her time in Parliament.
Zoe Daniel, who took the Melbourne seat of Goldstein from Liberal Tim Wilson, confirmed she would push Labor to legislate an emissions reduction target of 60 per cent by 2030 so the major parties did not have "wriggle room" on the goals.
She reiterated her four campaign pillars of "climate, prosperity, integrity and gender equality" would be her priorities in any negotiations.
Mr Wilson conceded defeat on Sunday afternoon and congratulated Ms Daniel on her victory, noting the loss of his seat was part of a wider pattern in inner-city Liberal seats across the country.
In Malcolm Turnbull's former seat of Wentworth, Allegra Spender defeated Liberal Dave Sharma.
She said the country needed an emissions reduction target of at least 50 per cent by 2030 "and I'll be using all my power to try to achieve that in this Parliament".
Labor still hopeful of majority
Mr Albanese has flagged his intention to imminently introduce legislation for a federal ICAC. He said the issue of climate change should no longer be controversial, saying "we have an opportunity now to end the climate wars in Australia".
But he has repeatedly said during the election campaign there would be "no deals".
The crossbench looks set to be dominated by MPs with strong climate agendas, with at least six of the "teal" independents picking up seats and the Greens securing at least two Lower House seats.
Dr Ryan said while the teal candidates were "not a party in any way, shape or form", she expected to work with the independents and the rest of the crossbench on policy if she was elected.
Incoming Labor finance minister Katy Gallagher did not confirm whether the makeup of the crossbench would force a compromise on climate policy.
"We had a clear target in the election campaign, a clear policy, and in government we'll do exactly what we said we would do," she said.
Deputy Labor leader Richard Marles told Insiders his party was still hopeful it could secure enough seats for a majority but would have to negotiate with a senate crossbench.
"But Anthony [Albanese] is a person who is enormously skilled at bringing people together … we are confident that we can get the agenda through Parliament."
Independents say 'teal revolution' due to rejection of Liberal Party
In the New South Wales seat of Mackellar, independent Sophie Scamps comfortably won against Liberal Jason Falinski.
Kylea Tink has ousted moderate Trent Zimmerman from North Sydney, and Zali Steggall has kept her seat of Warringah after ousting former prime minister Tony Abbott in 2019.
In the west, independent Kate Chaney has claimed victory over Celia Hammond in the formerly safe Liberal seat of Curtin.
While Labor has been the beneficiary of swings against the government, this election has seen a trend away from a two-party system overall.
Goldstein's Ms Daniel said the victories were because the Liberal Party had "drifted so far to the right that people didn't feel represented" and the Labor Party "has an identity crisis where it has been trying to represent the workers and the inner-city professionals".
Liberals concede stronger action needed on climate, women's issues
Outgoing finance minister Simon Birmingham conceded the Liberal Party lost votes from women and the Coalition would need to think about its emissions reduction stance.
"Given the fact that we are looking like we will exceed that 2030 position of 26 to 28 per cent, of course, we should commit to being able to go further," he told Insiders.
Mr Frydenberg said he did not believe Australia had been "well served by the culture wars on climate change".
"I explained what we were doing, and have done. A lot of people wanted us to do more. And I suspect that that was one of the driving factors behind the result."
He said the success of the teal vote would "provide lessons for the Coalition" as to how they tackled climate in the future.
In his last press conference as treasurer on Sunday morning, Mr Frydenberg said he was proud of what he and the Coalition had been able to achieve.
Mr Frydenberg shepherded the country through the economic fallout of the pandemic and oversaw schemes like JobKeeper.
He denied his criticism of the Victorian government's lockdowns was a factor in his defeat.
