Tony Abbott is Australia's 28th Prime Minister.

Welcome to our election party!

It’s where we’re keeping the discussion about the events of September 7 going. From Annabel Crabb’s scarf to the very real prospect of Clive Palmer wielding significant politcial power.

Just like any good election party, there’s plenty of interesting debate and banter. You can join the discussion in our comments section below. But, be warned, we’re good hosts. So any bullying behaviour or personal attacks, and we’ll show you the door.

If it all gets too much, we have generously provided a drinking game (BYO) which you are free to play with your DVR recordings of the coverage. (We know you’ve got them.)

So, sit back and enjoy the ride.

Happy election!

11.00 AM Sunday 8th – The Morning After.

Australia has woken up to a new Prime Minister elect, however the election results are still rolling in.

Senate Results are still being released across the nation, however so far the results are as follows, according to the ABC:

ACT: 1 Coalition, 1 ALP

NSW: 3 Coalition, 2 ALP, 1 Liberal Democratic Party

QLD: 3 Coalition, 2 ALP, 1 Palmer United Party

VIC: 2 Coalition, 2 ALP, 1 Greens Party, 1 Australian Motoring Enthusiast Party

TAS: 2 Coalition, 2 ALP, 1 Greens Party, 1 Palmer United Party

WA: 3 Coalition, 1 ALP, 1 Greens Party, 1 Australian Sports Party

SA: 2 Coalition, 1 ALP, 1 Nick Xenophon Group, 1 Australian Greens, 1 Family First

NT: 1 Country Liberal Party, 1 ALP

10:20PM Australia’s 28th Prime Minister, Tony Abbott has just given his victory speech.

Abbott described the honour of Prime Ministership as “The greatest honour and the heaviest responsibility that any member of parliament can have.” He said that under his new government “the carbon tax will be gone, the boats will be stopped, the budget will be on track.”

Abbott promised that his government would be defined by the principles of competency and trustworthiness.

Surprisingly, Abbott gave his speech without his family up on stage. Here is one of the harsher Tweets addressing that, from prominent feminist, Anne Summers:

Flags replace wife and daughters @TonyAbbottMHR?

— Anne Summers (@SummersAnne) September 7, 2013

10PM: Kevin Rudd has just conceded defeat.

In a speech given at The Gabba, Rudd said: “A short time ago I phoned Tony Abbott to concede defeat at the national elections.”

He and his wife, Therese, look forward to greeting the Abbotts “in the same gracious manner that we were greeted by Mr and Mrs Howard six years ago.”

One notable absentee was Rudd’s duaghter, Jess. She was at the hospital with her husband after her 14 month-old daughter, Josephine, came down with a fever. In his speech, Kevin called baby Josephine: “the youngest ever member of Young Labor.”

Here’s a pic of Kevin doing one last ‘upside-down spider’ hand gesture, for ol’ times sake:

9:30PM: Kate Ellis has retained the seat of Adelaide. Speaking on ABC News, she said: “There will be some lessons for the Labor Party out of this, but it is incredibly important that we use this opportunity to start rebuilding right now.”

Ellis also criticised the Labor Party for infighting that detracted from the achievements of the Gillard government, saying: “Julia will be remembered as a remarkable Prime Minister.”

She is also one of the first politicians we’ve seen tonight who has boldly strayed from their party’s colour scheme in terms of outfit choice:

If you want to see what party colour commitment looks like, see Julie Bishop:

9:20PM: The swing predicted earlier in the night in a few rural electorates has not been as pronounced as expected. Eden-Monaro is expected to be Labor retained, while Capricornia is too close to call.

Clive Palmer is still predicted to take out the seat of Fairfax.

9:10PM Julie Bishop has spoken to ABC News about Australia’s possible involvement in the Syrian conflict. Prefacing her answer with the statement that it was “presumptuous to assume [she] will be appointed Foreign Minister”, Bishop said that the new government would follow the debate in the US Congress very closely, as well as the debate in the UN. But that there must be a strategic purpose to such an intervention.

8:50PM: On a two-party preferred basis, the Labor Party is sitting at 47.2%, with the LNP at 52.8%. The ABC’s predictions for seats in the Lower House are: 59 for Labor, 87 for the Coalition, 1 (Bandt) to the Greens and 3 independently held (including Andrew Wilkie.)

Labor’s Tim Watts will retain Nicola Roxon’s old seat of Gellibrand. And last election’s youngest candidate, the LNP’s Wyatt Roy, will remain in parliament, with a 3.7% swing in his seat of Longman.

8:30PM: A huge swing to the Nationals for Barnaby Joyce in New England, with a projected two-candidate preferred of over 70%. Could we be seeing Deputy PM Barnaby?

In other news, former-PM Julia Gillard has returned to Twitter for the first time since July. She tweeted a message of support for Joanne Ryan, the new member for her old electorate of Lalor:

Congrats to Joanne Ryan on her election as Member for Lalor. She’ll be a strong and articulate voice for a proud community we both love. JG

— Julia Gillard (@JuliaGillard) September 7, 2013

8:20PM: Clive Palmer currently has 11.6% of the QLD vote. Palmer is also a serious shot for his home seat of Fairfax, where he holds 29.21% of the vote. He’s still behind the Liberal candidate, Ted O’Brien, but Palmer’s popularity has seen a 9% swing away from both the Labor and Liberal parties respectively.

The award for best Clive Palmer tweet of the night goes to Larry Emdur:

If Clive Palmer wins at least he’ll have somewhere nice to moor his Titanic replica pic.twitter.com/HsMY2aBOyM

— Larry Emdur (@larryemdur) September 7, 2013

8PM: Labor’s Anna Burke looks set to retain the seat of Chisolm.

In the seat of Indi, independent, Cathy McGowan appears to be gaining ground on Sophie Mirabella. Antony Green has called this race “too close to call.”

The Greens’ Adam Bandt looks set to retain the seat of Melbourne. He was just interviewed on ABC News, where he managed to silence that crowd of keenie Greenies with a wave of his environmentally-conscious hand:

7:40PM: Current Deputy PM, Anthony Albanese looks set to retain the seat of Grayndler. He tweeted:

Primary vote swings to ALP in most booths in Grayndler – scrutineers report ahead of the Greens Party candidate in every single booth

— Anthony Albanese (@AlboMP) September 7, 2013

His predecessor, Wayne Swan is also looking to be safely sitting in the seat of Lilley for another term, although there has been a swing towards the Libs of 2.2%.

7:30PM Roughly 15.5% of the vote counted. Current two-party looking like 54.7% to the Liberal Partyand 45.3% to Labor. The primary vote for Labor is set to be the worst seen since the 1930’s.

The most significant state swing is coming from Tasmania, with a swing to the Liberal Party being reported as between 8 and 10%.

The Labor member for Bass, Geoff Lyons, appeared blindsided by the swing when speaking to Annabel Crabb on the ABC. He said: “There is a swing on which hasn’t been revealed to us when knocking on doors… Most people seem up for a chat and I haven’t had any doors slammed in my face… But maybe that impression wasn’t as accurate as we thought.”

7:10PM: With 2% of the vote counted, it looks like Labor’s Michelle Rowland will retain the seat of Greenway in Sydney’s outer North-West. You might remember this seat from such memorable election moments as the time that the Liberal candidate, Jaymes Diaz, was unable to recall his party’s six point plan.

However, still in Sydney’s West, it looks like the seat of Lindsay – long considered safe Labor territory – will go to the Liberal Party.

7PM: Antony Green has said that ‘the government has been defeated.’ He predicts the Coalition will definitely hold 75 seats, while Labor will have 42.

Sophie Mirabella is facing serious competition from Independent Cathy McGowan in the Victorian seat of Indi. While early figures show that Mirabella is on 49.2%, followed by McGowan on 29.2%, it is expected that McGowan’s vote will grow substantially once the results from more booths come in.

6:40PM: Early figures are looking bad for the Labor party, with predicted significant swings towards the Coalition in a number of seats.

Antony Green on the ABC has said that he has “1 swing to Labor in a seat that they don’t hold, but 10 swings to the Coalition in a seat they don’t hold.”

Early figures from Kingsford-Smith (Peter Garrett’s old seat) are showing that it should be retained by the Labor Party with a swing of 4.4%.

However, all of these figures are only based on a few booths, so it’s really a bit too early to be calling anything.

In other news, Antony Green’s now using a touchscreen display to show his excellent graphics:

But, while it’s hard to call at this early stage, we think that Joe O’Brien from ABC24 might have outdone him with his ‘virtual chamber.’

Thoughts?

6PM: And that’s it! Polls are closed! Now, the count. Spare a thought for the uni students and retirees rifling through your votes in school halls across the country.

5PM: With just one hour left of voting, media outlets and political reporters are starting to make predictions.

A Sky News/Newspoll exit poll is predicting that the opposition will win 97 seats, a 25-seat gain, while Labor will lose 21 seats and have only 51 MPs in parliament.

The latest Age/Nielsen poll suggests 54 per cent of voters will be siding with the Coalition  on a two-patry-preferred basis.

In terms of individual seats, political reporter Latika Bourke expects that Minister for Employment Participation and Early Childhood, Childcare and Youth, Kate Ellis, will lose the seat of Adelaide. She tweeted:

Another Labor seat to watch is Adelaide. It’s looking bad for Minister Kate Ellis. #Ausvotes

— Latika Bourke (@latikambourke) September 7, 2013

3PM: Polls opened at 8am this morning, with voters across the country lining up outside their local primary school or community hall for a taste of democracy (and, you know, probably a sausage sandwich.)

This morning, Leader of the Opposition, Tony Abbott, visited Freshwater SLSC on Sydney’s Northern Beaches to cast his vote with wife, Margie, and daughters Frances, Bridget and Louise in tow.

Mr Abbott tweeted:

I’ve just cast my vote at Freshwater. For strong and stable government, vote for the Coalition #ausvotespic.twitter.com/cPNhC5NCfR

— Tony Abbott (@TonyAbbottMHR) September 6, 2013

Later in the day, Prime Minister Rudd visited St Paul’s Anglican Church in East Brisbane with wife, Therese, to cast his vote.

PM Rudd tweeted:

Another colourful day in Australian democracy at my local polling booth. Thanks to all well-wishers http://t.co/pKFggppfiu

— Kevin Rudd (@KRuddMP) September 7, 2013

Check out our gallery of Election Day tweets: