There are only two Saturdays left for an election to be held, May 14 or May 21, and any delays this weekend would mean MPs would need to return to Canberra this week.
Labor leader Anthony Albanese said it was likely the election would be called this weekend because Prime Minister Scott Morrison 'didn't like the scrutiny' of a sitting Parliament.
"This Prime Minister last year gave up on governing and said he was campaigning," Mr Albanese said on Saturday.
The Opposition Leader said Mr Morrison was treating the election as a "game" and delaying it, to allow the use of taxpayer funds to spruik government spending and appoint mates to government boards.
Mr Albanese said Labor had a mountain to climb to win the looming election but had a plan for the future while the government was "out of puff".
If the Prime Minister does not visit Governor-General David Hurley by Sunday it will rule out the earlier May date, as a minimum of 33 days is required between calling an election and polling day.
It will also mean MPs will have to return to Canberra for the week as the House of Representatives is due to sit.
A programme for the scheduled sitting was released on Friday afternoon but was not expected to go ahead.
Mr Morrison has said his visit to Mr Hurley was not far away.
"Electoral terms are for three years. The last election was on May 18 (2019) and the next election will be held about the same time," he told reporters on Friday.
"You'll know very soon."
A potential hurdle delaying Mr Morrison from calling the election was cleared on Friday afternoon when the High Court threw out a challenge to his pick of candidates for several New South Wales seats.
Chief Justice Susan Kiefel said there were "insufficient prospects of success" to warrant leave for former Liberal member Matthew Camenzuli to challenge Mr Morrison's intervention in the state's local branches.
The latest polls show Morrison's Liberal Party lagging behind Labor.
Detained refugees released
Refugees detained for two years in a hotel in Melbourne under Australia's tough border policies were suddenly released into the community on Thursday.
The Park Hotel shot to international prominence when tennis star Novak Djokovic was detained there briefly in January after his visa was cancelled on the grounds that he was a threat to public order because his presence would encourage anti-vaccination sentiment amid Australia's worst Covid-19 outbreak.
The hotel was used to detain refugees medically transferred from Australia's offshore processing centres for asylum seekers who attempt to reach Australia by boat.
A lawyer for the refugees, some held in immigration detention for nine years, told ABC radio their release into the community on temporary visas was "a last minute political fix on an election eve".
Morrison forged his political career as the immigration minister who "stopped the boats", a reference to tough border policies to discourage mostly Afghan and Iranian asylum seekers arriving by sea, that had been viewed as key to winning elections for the past decade.
But the Liberal Party is under new pressure from independent candidates who are critical of the treatment of asylum seekers, including in two seats in the biggest city, Sydney, previously held by Liberal prime ministers.
Independent lawmakers in seats previously held by the Liberals have said the Djokovic detention saga had caused a flood of letters from voters concerned over the detention of refugees.
Morrison said on Friday the election would be fought on his government's economic track record and national security, and cast Labor as an "unknown".
Analysts have pointed to cost of living pressures, in the wake of the pandemic and rising oil prices caused by the Ukraine war, as a dominant issue.
- AAP and Reuters
