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AAP
AAP
Politics
Maeve Bannister

Vote count continues as margins narrow

Labor is close to securing the parliamentary seats it needs for majority government but some contests from the weekend election are still too close to call.

Official figures from the Australian Electoral Commission on Tuesday have Labor winning 75 seats, one short of a majority in the House of Representatives.

The Liberal-Nationals coalition has 58 seats.

There are five seats where the margin between leading contenders is fewer than 1000 votes: Deakin (Victoria), Ryan (Queensland), Gilmore (NSW), Grey (South Australia) and Lyons (Tasmania).

In the Melbourne suburban seat of Deakin, former Liberal minister Michael Sukkar is leading by 59 votes, while the Greens' Elizabeth Watson-Brown is 25 votes ahead of Liberal MP Julian Simmonds in the Brisbane seat of Ryan.

The seats of Richmond (NSW), Macnamara (Victoria) and Brisbane (Qld) where the Greens are in the race are also in play, with the AEC yet to publish two-candidate preferred figures.

Independent candidates are leading in 10 seats, the Greens in three, with the Centre Alliance and Katter's Australian Party retaining their seats.

Coalition MPs are trailing in 18 seats: Swan, Pearce, Tangney, Hasluck, Curtin (WA), Chisholm, Higgins, Kooyong, Goldstein (Vic), Wentworth, Reid, North Sydney, Robertson, Mackellar, Bennelong (NSW), Boothby and Grey (SA) and Ryan (Qld).

Labor is behind in two NSW seats - Fowler and Gilmore - it held before Saturday's election.

The make-up of the Senate could take weeks to determine, but it appears one casualty could be Liberals minister Zed Seselja, who is facing defeat at the hands of independent David Pocock, a former Australian rugby union international.

The Senate result is projected to be coalition 30 seats and Labor 25 in the 76-seat chamber from July 1.

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