There's no clear majority, no declared winner, no concession speech, and we may not see a result for some days yet.

But with nearly 80 per cent of the vote counted, we can already see some trends that tell us how this election is likely to stack up historically.

The minor parties' rise continues

The primary vote count so far shows this is the highest vote for minor parties and independents the country has seen.

Nearly a quarter of Australians have given their first preference to parties other than Labor and the Coalition, a trend that has been in the making since the 2007 election and was hinted at during the 1998 election.

The Labor Party has won a primary vote of 34.9 per cent, with Liberal frontbencher Scott Morrison pointing out on election night that this was the second lowest primary vote for Labor since 1949.

"This is not a strong primary vote for the Labor Party," he said.

Shortly after, Mr Morrison agreed that the Liberal Party had not had strong primary results either.

"Yes, the Government has got a swing against it — no doubt about that," he said.

Based on counting so far, the Coalition's primary vote of 42.1 per cent would be its fourth lowest result for the past 60 years, and similar to the level in its big loss to Kevin Rudd-led Labor in 2007.

The Greens have regained some of the ground they lost at the last election, with 10.2 per cent of the primary vote.

The strong primary votes for "Others" also resulted from increased support for independents like Cathy McGowan in Indi, the Nick Xenophon Team (NXT), Family First, the Christian Democratic Party and One Nation.

Making history this election is Rebekha Sharkie, who won the South Australian electorate of Mayo for the NXT.

She is the first federal MP from any party other than Labor or the Coalition to win election in South Australia since 1949.

The popularity of the NXT in South Australia lifted the "Other" primary vote above Labor's.

The rise in the minor parties' vote has influenced results, particularly through the flow of preferences.

However, it has not yet resulted in more crossbenchers being elected to the Lower House — at the moment they have five seats, the same number they won in 2013.

One of the seats in doubt, Batman, may still be lost by Labor to the Greens, so that could be history making for the Greens and all minor parties.

How common is a result this close?

There are currently 150 seats in the Lower House, so to win a majority, a party must have 76 seats.

Although Malcolm Turnbull says he is confident the Coalition will reach 76, it's not yet certain it will.

This is clearly a historically close result.

The largest majority in the House of Representatives was the famous double-dissolution election that followed the dismissal of the Whitlam government in 1975.

The smallest majorities were held during 1961 and 2010; the 1961 election retained a Coalition government, while in the 2010 election Labor's Julia Gillard formed government with the support of the Greens' Adam Bandt, and independents Rob Oakeshott, Tony Windsor and Andrew Wilkie.

Coalition vs Labor

On a two-party preferred basis, the Labor Party has gained a lot of the ground it lost in the 2013 election, despite the second-lowest primary vote mentioned above.

There was a swing back towards Labor in most states and territories, with a surprise big swing towards the Labor Party in Tasmania of nearly 9 per cent.

Liberal deputy leader Julie Bishop says her party had "expected it to be close".

"Now, I think we've returned to the normal situation in federal elections, which are generally very close," she said.

"I think 2013 was an utter rebuff of the chaos of the Rudd-Gillard-Rudd years, and now we've returned to a more normal pattern."