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ABC News
ABC News
National

Which seats are still in doubt? And when will counting finish?

Labor has a lot riding on them. (ABC News: Timothy Stevens)

Labor is two seats away from forming a majority government

And four days on from Saturday’s election, five seats remain in doubt.

This is how things are looking on a national level at the moment. 

These are the seats still in doubt

Brisbane, QLD

Liberal National Party's Trevor Evans is the current member for Brisbane. So far, 64 per cent of votes have been counted and Madonna Jarrett leads by slightly more than 8,000 votes.

ABC's Casey Briggs explains what is clear is that Mr Evans has been defeated.

"His primary vote is down more than 11 per cent, to less than 37 per cent," he said.

"What is not clear is who will win: it is a race between the Greens candidate Stephen Bates, who is currently in second place, and Labor candidate Madonna Jarrett, who is in third. But they are within half a per cent of each other on first preferences.

"Whoever is in second place after all the other candidates preferences are distributed will go on to win the seat."

Deakin, VIC

The seat of outgoing Liberal assistant treasurer Michael Sukkar is still a close call.

Mr Sukkar is ahead of the Labor Party's Matt Gregg by 730 votes.

Gilmore, NSW

Former NSW transport minister Andrew Constance is ahead of current Labor MP Fiona Phillips by a very narrow 143 votes. 

At this stage, 85.3 per cent of the votes have been counted. 

Lyons, TAS

The Liberals have picked up a 4.6 per cent swing towards them, with Susie Bower leading on first preference votes. 

But this is a close call. Yesterday Briggs called this one a "close-run battle". 

Labor's Brian Mitchell leads by a very slight 703 votes. 

Macnamara, VIC

The ABC is projecting a Green versus Labor final preference count but, at this stage, it is unclear what order the three leading first-preference candidates will finish. 

When will vote counting finish?

Australian Electoral Commission staff have been sorting and counting votes since polls closed on May 21. 

However, alongside the votes made in person, there has also been a mountain of postal votes to sort through, with many of these taking up to two weeks to arrive before being counted. 

Which is why these postal votes could be vital in determining the outcome in some extremely close seats.

PM heading home after high-level talks in Tokyo.
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