Coalition edges towards seat majority

Malcolm Turnbull.
Malcolm Turnbull.
Malcolm Turnbull appears on track to retain government with a slim majority, as federal election counting continues.

The coalition is likely to hold 76 seats in the 150-seat lower house, as postal votes and recounts of existing votes favoured Liberal and Nationals candidates over Labor.

The prime minister's only comment today came via Twitter where he wrote: "We need to listen very carefully to the concerns the Australian people have expressed at this election."

He also tweeted a photograph of himself and Treasurer Scott Morrison walking to a meeting with Reserve Bank Governor Glenn Stevens in Sydney to discuss "economic developments".

Mr Morrison told ABC radio the government was on track to form a majority government.

This afternoon the coalition appeared to have 70 seats to Labor's 67, with one for the Greens, and four independents.

Of the eight seats in doubt, the coalition led in Chisholm, Dunkley, Gilmore and Forde and had clawed back Labor's lead in Hindmarsh from 347 to 167 votes.

Labor led by 737 votes in Herbert, but coalition MP Ewen Jones was confident of winning the lion's share of postal votes.

In the West Australian seat of Cowan, Labor led by 750 votes but postal votes were breaking in the Liberals' favour.

There were no updates to counting in Capricornia, where Labor led by 994 votes.

Opposition Leader Bill Shorten visited Launceston to congratulate Labor's "three amigos" - Ross Hart in Bass, Justine Keay in Braddon and Brian Mitchell in Lyons - who ousted sitting Liberal members.

While Mr Shorten did not concede defeat, he said Mr Turnbull would face many problems should he scrape back into office - not the least being "white hot anger" within Liberal ranks.

Coalition MPs pointed to a "disconnect" between the issues on which the government campaigned and the concerns of average families.

"While I put forward a positive campaign talking about 2018 to 2030, other people were talking about July," Mr Jones told AAP, adding high unemployment was a key issue in his north Queensland seat.

"When people are hurting, someone is going to get belted."

Liberal MP Andrew Hastie said he had thrown aside the coalition talking points when a father of five asked him how the Turnbull government would benefit his family.

"I struggled to answer," Mr Hastie told the Mandurah Mail.

"It was at that point I realised that a lot of what we were campaigning on nationally just wasn't resonating with everyday Australians ... there was a disconnect."

Mr Morrison accused Mr Shorten of running around the country "arrogantly proclaiming a victory that he hasn't achieved".

However, the treasurer admitted following Labor's campaign to "save Medicare" a re-elected Turnbull government would need to assure Australians about its commitment to health services.

There were some "serious issues" stemming from the 2014 budget, which reduced the growth in health funding, he said.

But that did not make the Labor campaign "any less of a lie".

The Australian Electoral Commission is looking into claims ballot papers in Cowan were not stored or signed off properly.

AEC spokesman Phil Diak isn't worried by the claims, saying the votes were always in secure containers.

A form that records the seals on the boxes was with the officer-in-charge rather than transferred, but it was always in the AEC's possession, he said.

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