Swing against ruling coalition in Australian polls

Australia appeared to be heading for a hung parliament or a minority government with half the votes counted in a national poll on Saturday, potentially blocking Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull's ability to enact major economic reforms.

Official electoral data halfway through the count for the House of Representatives showed a 3 per cent swing away from the Liberal-led coalition government. On the current count, the coalition was projected to hold 69 seats, against the opposition Labor Party's 70 seats and five to independents and the Greens Party.

The coalition is expected to win several of the remaining 16 seats to be determined, but it is unclear if it will be enough to form a government without an alliance with small parties and independents to get a majority.

The result was so close, Attorney-General George Brandis said it would not be called on Saturday evening with just a couple of hours before counting officials clock-off. There is no counting scheduled for Sunday, with counting for the Senate to resume on Monday and the House of Representatives on Tuesday.

Former prime minister Tony Abbott, who retained his Sydney seat, told Liberal Party followers in his electorate it was a "difficult night".

Such a result would mean that Turnbull's gamble of dissolving both houses of parliament in May to trigger the election has backfired, given that was a bid to oust intransigent independents in the upper house Senate who had blocked his agenda. Turnbull had called for Australians to vote for the coalition and political stability, invoking the global economic and political fallout from Britain's vote to leave the European Union.

With half the vote counted, Labor was benefiting from a 3.3 per cent swing in its favour on a two-party basis, short of the 4 per cent it needs to win government but potentially enough to leave the coalition with a minority government.