The opinion polls were calling it a photo-finish as to which party would win today's federal election, but this nation of born punters saw a late surge of bets in favour of a Labor victory, Christopher Zinn reports from Sydney.
In common with the latest opinion poll, which showed a late swing to Kim Beazley's Labor Party, Australia's largest private betting agency CentreBet said the odds on an opposition win started out at 2-1 and then firmed to 7-4.
But as 12 million Australians go to the compulsory polls in the cliffhanger election Labour strategists remain privately pessimistic that the swing will be large enough to deliver the 27 seats they need to regain power after 2 1/2 years in opposition.
However, the level of support for Pauline Hanson's One Nation party, fighting its first federal election, and the unpredictable flow of its preferences in key marginals makes the result harder to call than usual.
One Nation was predicting it will win 15 seats in the Lower House and six seats in the Senate. In contrast to the more reliable opinion polls Ms Hanson said she was confident of winning the seat of Blair in Queensland.
