It epitomises the more general existential challenge to Labor in gentrifying inner-city areas, where the knowledge elites are moving into one-time working-class neighbourhoods, doing up the terrace houses and replacing outhouses with designer courtyards. And where the knowledge elites congregate, the Greens vote is following. Anthony Albanese campaigning at Summer Hill Railway Station. Credit:Peter Rae That trend has been intensified in Grayndler by a recent redistribution which hives off some of its Labor strongholds (including much of Marrickville) and pushes the seat into the more prosperous Balmain peninsula, tilting it further towards the Greens. Two of the three lower-house seats which the Greens hold in the NSW state parliament - Balmain and Newtown - are now wholly within the boundaries of Mr Albanese's federal electorate. The numbers signal danger for the Labor luminary, despite his huge personal recognition factor. "On the state figures, the Greens got more primary votes in 2015 than Labor did across [the new] Grayndler" Mr Albanese says. He thought long and hard about putting up his hand for the now-safer (for Labor) electorate of Barton next door at the start of the year but abandoned the idea.

"I imagined what I would feel like doing the Channel Nine commentary on election night and they say 'oh, congratulations you've won Barton tonight and now we cross to the Greens who've won Grayndler.' Most of the people I have represented are still in Grayndler, and I'm loyal to that community." Greens candidate for Grayndler Jim Casey. Credit:Dominic Lorrimer The Liberal candidate is David van Gogh, 29, a technology consultant whose slim chances are further handicapped by the fact that two of the most explosive issues in the electorate - the WestConnex​ motorway and the sacking of local councils that oppose the motorway - are NSW government initiatives. These state projects are tarnishing the Liberal brand and bleeding into the federal contest. WestConnex has also added weight to Mr Albanese's saddle bags because, as Infrastructure Minister in the Gillard government, he signed off an offer of $1.8 billion in contributory funds from Canberra, albeit specifying several stringent conditions that were never met. (The Abbott government later promised - and has mostly delivered - a more generous package with no strings attached.) Mr Albanese at a Stop WestConnex meeting at Balmain Town Hall in May. Credit:Dominic Lorrimer/Fairfax Media

With the Greens running a powerful campaign against WestConnex, Mr Albanese has now thoroughly distanced himself from the project, declaring at a rowdy public meeting in the Balmain Town Hall last month that not one dollar more of federal money would go to the motorway should Labor be returned to office. On the 2015 state figures the Greens got more primary votes than Labor across Grayndler Anthony Albanese Many inner-west residents fear the massive project will tear the heart out of their communities while exacerbating traffic congestion into the city. But it remains popular in Sydney's sprawling outer west, forcing Mr Shorten to come out and promise that Labor would not renege on federal funding commitments. Labor strategists are portraying this as a "nuancing" rather than an open difference between Mr Albanese and Mr Shorten. Grayndler covers some 32 square kilometres immediately to the west of Sydney's CBD. The old seat included many migrant-heavy areas, with up to 40 per cent of residents speaking a language other than English at home. That changes with the push into the more Anglo areas of Balmain and Annandale. Among other suburbs the seat covers are Leichhardt , Rozelle, Ashfield, Summer Hill, Sydenham, Enmore and Haberfield. According to the last census in 2011, nearly 40 per cent of Grayndler's workers were professionals with median weekly household income of $1755.

A number of minor parties are expected to run candidates, among them the exotically-named Meow-Ludo Meow Meow, a molecular biologist and "biohacker" who is standing for the Science Party (known until recently as the Future Party) with a pitch aimed squarely at the youth vote. The left-aligned Mr Albanese mirrors the more progressive wing of his party on issues like climate change, same-sex marriage, public transport and cities infrastructure. He accuses the Greens of gross hypocrisy in targeting him and not a Turnbull government MP. But Casey argues that the Greens provide a "more compassionate" alternative to Labor on asylum-seeker policy and a tougher stand against the fossil fuel industry. Mr Albanese secured more than 46 per cent of first preference votes in 2013 and if the Greens place third ( as they did then) he will win easily on Greens preferences. But he could be at risk if the Liberals run third and decide to preference Casey over Labor. Mr Albanese is hammering the Liberals for an undertaking this won't happen but it has not been ruled out by coalition tacticians. Despite this, election analyst Antony Green predicts that "if Albo gets 46 per cent first preferences again, he is not going to be run down, even if the Libs finish third." Follow us on Twitter