This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

Scott Morrison has credited “quiet Australians” for his shock election win, with the Coalition poised to defy expectations and form a majority government.

As the Labor party reeled from its disastrous result – which may see it win as few as two seats nationally – Bill Shorten stepped down as Labor leader. The New South Wales leftwinger Anthony Albanese will confirm his intentions to run for the Labor leadership on Sunday.

Labelling his victory on Saturday night a “miracle”, Morrison said hard-working aspirational Australians had ensured the Coalition would boost its numbers in the House of Representatives.

Labor lost the unloseable election – now it's up to Morrison to tell Australia his plan | Katharine Murphy Read more

“They have their dreams, they have their aspirations, to get a job, to get an apprenticeship, to start a business, to meet someone amazing, to start a family, to buy a home, to work hard and provide the best you can for your kids, to save for your retirement,” Morrison told jubilant supporters at the Wentworth hotel in Sydney on Saturday night.

“These are the quiet Australians who have won a great victory tonight. Tonight is about every single Australian who depends on their government to put them first.”

The former prime minister Tony Abbott lost his seat of Warringah to the independent Zali Steggall. But the loss of the outspoken Abbott will benefit Morrison in the Coalition’s third term in office, leaving the way clear for the prime minister to exert enhanced authority in his party room.

Labor strategists had gone into Saturday night with some confidence they would form a majority government, but with more than 65% of the vote counted on Saturday night, the Coalition had secured a 1.2% two-party-preferred swing.

Liberals' election 'miracle' surprises even the true blue-blooded believers Read more

Labor MPs blamed a range of factors for the rout, including Shorten’s residual unpopularity with voters, the controversial dividend imputation policy, a sharper campaign from their opponents, and a lack of focus in the allocation of resources.

The Coalition prospered in Queensland, aided by a strong protest vote to One Nation and Clive Palmer’s United Australia party, and is expected to pick up two marginal seats in Tasmania. While there were positive swings to Labor in inner metropolitan areas, outer suburban electorates swung the Coalition’s way.

Labor was counting on picking up seats in Victoria and Western Australia to offset expected losses in central Queensland but the positive trend did not eventuate, leaving the opposition unable to gain the seats it needed to win government.

Shorten on Saturday night at first resisted making a concession but later in the evening called Morrison to acknowledge the defeat. A “disappointed” Shorten said he would stand down as leader, but said he believed the party could win at the next election in three years’ time.

“I want to say to our Labor movement and our Labor party, all of you can say this: We worked incredibly hard, we advanced ideas, we campaigned on a positive vision,” Shorten said.

“We were upfront and clear about the reforms that both sides of politics have ignored for decades. We have said loud and clear that Australia needs and needed to take real action on climate change.

“We are a resilient and proud movement and we never give up.”

At the close of counting on Saturday night, the Coalition was on track to hold all of its seats in Queensland and pick up the Labor-held marginals of Herbert and Longman, and in Tasmania was on track to pick up the seats of Braddon and Bass.

'What have we misread?' Labor faithful in shock after stunning election defeat Read more

In Victoria Labor was hoping to pick up Corangamite, Dunkley and Chisholm, but was unlikely to win any seats in WA, despite targeting up to five.

Dunkley and Corangamite were made notionally Labor by a redistribution, meaning the only seat that may actually be won by the opposition could be Gilmore in NSW.

Several seats remain on a knife edge.

Shorten took aim at Clive Palmer, suggesting his $60m campaign spend may have hurt the party in crucial seats. “Clearly the Coalition’s arrangements with One Nation and Clive Palmer have hurt our vote in a lot of places where it mattered most, particularly in Queensland and NSW.”

Nationally, Palmer’s Australia United party secured 3.4% of the vote, with more than 70% of the vote counted. One Nation performed more strongly than expected, despite Pauline Hanson running a low-key campaign. The party picked up 3% of the vote nationally.

Labor’s primary vote went backwards to 34%, down 1.4%, as did that of the Liberals (-0.8%).

But on the back of preferences from minor parties, the national two-party-preferred result was splitting 51-49 to the Coalition.

Shocked and bewildered Labor MPs are now bracing for the internal reckoning as they enter a third term in opposition.