The bright lights of this election campaign are firmly focused on Scott Morrison and Bill Shorten, but there's another trail underway, and it's embarked upon with a wooden wombat in tow.

Each election, the National Party leader hits the hustings on the 'wombat trail', traversing key rural and regional seats across the country.

Theories differ as to why the campaign is named after a chubby marsupial, but the preferred explanation is that, like a wombat, Nats leaders have traditionally ambled about on slower, older planes in electorates off the beaten track.

Some Nationals have also joked about how a wombat "eats roots and leaves", but these days they'd rather let that one lie.

This election, Michael McCormack is the Nationals leader.

His team is trying to hold onto 16 Lower House seats, a number of which are held with very slim margins. The tricky spots are Dawson, Flynn and Capricornia in Queensland, and Cowper and Page in northern New South Wales.

The Nats are also hoping to add to their tally by winning in at least one three-cornered contest.

But the country-based party has problems, and some senior figures say they're at risk of losing a handful of seats, or at least taking a shave in safer ones.

Messy business might hurt

One stark difference this election is the party's leader, who was chosen for the job after Barnaby Joyce resigned over allegations of sexual harassment. Those are allegations he denies and which an internal party investigation eventually made no finding on.

Michael McCormack doesn't have the campaign might and cut-through messaging of his predecessor. He's a more traditional style of Nationals leader — more reserved, and certainly less bolshie. But some colleagues think he's boring.

So it was that he set out on his first wombat trail plagued by leadership speculation, with Mr Joyce and cranky Queenslanders nipping at his heels over their push for a new coal-fired power station.

Most in the party concur that his future as leader depends on what the scoreboard looks like after the election. Whether voters really care about the internal machinations is unclear.

But they may care about the party's reputation, which has been tainted by Mr Joyce's relationship with a former staffer and more recently, allegations former frontbencher Andrew Broad used a dating website to meet younger women while on overseas work trips.

Those messy matters left many supporters of the party, which says it supports family values, disheartened and disgusted. Women, in particular, haven't forgotten.

Aside from image and infighting, the biggest challenge for some Nationals will be water, or lack of it. Politicking over water reform in the Murray-Darling Basin has infuriated irrigators and rural communities, who feel hard done by and forgotten.

With all that in mind, can the Nationals convince country voters they aren't being taken for granted?

New South Wales

For a glimpse of the mood in rural electorates, look no further than the recent New South Wales state election, where the Nationals copped a wallop, losing two seats to protest votes for the Shooters Fishers and Farmers (SFF) Party.

The SFF are running one Lower House candidate, in Calare, in central west New South Wales. But federal Nationals aren't too worried. They don't think the trend will translate because state issues are more nuanced, and because their federal electorates are generally so large.

Country voters traditionally favour incumbency because they like a familiar face, or someone they can trust. It's why Nationals MPs in those bigger, safer seats will have been notching up plenty of mileage on their odometers.

That should help sandbag seats like Parkes and Riverina, but things are looking much tighter in northern New South Wales.

The party's most concerned about the marginal seat of Cowper, where Luke Hartsuyker is retiring and hoping to hand the reins to Patrick Conaghan, a local cop turned lawyer.

Former independent Rob Oakeshott, a kingmaker in the minority Gillard government, is again contesting the seat, and his name recognition could put him at an advantage.

His primary vote was a convincing 26 per cent last election, and up against a relatively unknown Nationals candidate, he's in with a strong chance.

The Nationals also don't have a strong record of 'transitioning' seats. They famously lost Farrer to the Liberals, after former deputy prime minister Tim Fischer called it a day.

The party is more hopeful about its chances further north in Page, where Kevin Hogan is re-contesting.

Kevin Hogan moved to the crossbench after last year's leadership spill, in which Scott Morrison was installed as PM. ( ABC News: Nick Haggarty )

He's not facing as stiff a competition this election. The influential former Labor candidate Janelle Saffin isn't running because she was recently elected to NSW Parliament.

Mr Hogan's biggest challenge is winning over the shifting demographic: tree-changers from Sydney and Melbourne, with no history of voting National.

But his move late last year to sit on the crossbench, in protest against the Liberal leadership spill, may win over swinging voters who view him as being more 'independent' than National.

Things could also get interesting in the south coast seat of Gilmore, where party sources say the state's former agriculture minister Katrina Hodgkinson is "in with a chance" in a three-cornered contest sparked by Liberal Ann Sudmalis's retirement.

The Nationals are also likely to lose their NSW Senate seat, whipping the party down from two representatives two years ago to none.

The party lost its first NSW Senate seat when former deputy leader Fiona Nash lost her seat in the citizenship saga. Its candidate will be third on the joint Coalition ticket for this election, a spot political observers say is unwinnable.

Seats to watch:

Cowper — 4.6 per cent

Cowper — 4.6 per cent Page — 2.3 per cent

Page — 2.3 per cent Gilmore — 0.7 per cent (Lib)

Queensland

A big swing against the Coalition could wipe out a few LNP Nationals in Queensland, where Ken O'Dowd and Michelle Landry are in extremely tight races with Labor. They're sitting on their central Queensland seats of Flynn and Capricornia with margins of 1 per cent and less.

But they've been buoyed by the Coalition's recent approval of another stage of the Adani Carmichael coal mine.

They see the project as a vote winner because it provides jobs, and they're hoping that Federal Labor's lack of a clear-cut stance on the project will help.

That issue plays well further north in George Christensen's electorate of Dawson, too. He's been a colourful, outspoken member and is sitting on a slightly higher margin.

George Christensen has referred himself to the independent expenses auditor. ( ABC News: Jed Cooper )

But there are signs his seat could be proving an issue for the Coalition. Three ministers — Peter Dutton, Matt Canavan and Michael McCormack — visited in the space of a week.

The Herald Sun recently reported that Mr Christensen had spent 294 days in the Philippines during a four-year period, and more time in Manila than in Federal Parliament for two consecutive years.

Being 'present' is considered crucial to retaining country electorates. Voters like nothing more than knowing their local member, and trusting them. It's why most rural seat contests involve hand-to-hand combat on local issues.

Since the story broke, Labor has released attack ads, targeting the so-called 'Member for Manila'. The power of such social media campaigns cannot be underestimated but it remains unclear whether the issue will seriously affect Mr Christensen's chances locally.

One Nation could also be a threat, given it's running a candidate in Dawson and didn't do so last election. In 2016, One Nation's preferences helped Labor wrangle Herbert from the Liberals and ended the political career of Coalition minister Wyatt Roy in Longman.

Seats to watch:

Capricornia — 0.6 per cent

Capricornia — 0.6 per cent Flynn — 1 per cent

Flynn — 1 per cent Dawson — 3.4 per cent

Victoria

There's another three-cornered contest underway in the country, and it could be one of the tightest battles of the campaign.

Former independent Cathy McGowan has retired from politics, paving the way for a stand-off between the Liberals, Nationals and an independent candidate in the north-east Victorian seat of Indi.

The Liberals are champing at the bit to take back this once-conservative stronghold, after Ms McGowan famously ousted Sophie Mirabella in 2013. Mrs Mirabella lost because of a grassroots 'Voices for Indi' movement that garnered the backing of rusted-on Nationals who felt she wasn't representing them.

Ms McGowan was popular amongst conservative voters, including farmers. They may be less inclined to throw their support behind the new independent candidate: nurse and midwife Helen Haines.

Cathy McGowan's supporters selected Helen Haines to be her successor. ( Supplied )

She's up against Liberal Steve Martin, an engineering project manager and the Nationals' Mark Byatt, a volunteer fireman and ex-mayor.

Further west, the Nationals are trying to retain the safe seat of Mallee, where the former member made an untidy exit from politics.

Late last year it was alleged Andrew Broad, an outspoken supporter of preserving the traditional definition of marriage, met up with a much younger woman for a date during a taxpayer-funded trip.

Senior Nationals pushed for a woman to run in his place and Anne Webster, a sociologist and the founder of a community welfare organisation that supports young mothers, was preselected.

Aside from the difficulties that come with trying to win a seat in 'transition', her biggest competition could be independent candidates vying for the disgruntled farmer vote.

If she wins, she'll be the first woman to represent the seat.

Seats to watch:

Indi — 5.5 per cent

Indi — 5.5 per cent Mallee — 19.8 per cent

Women on the rise?

Somebody in the Nationals must have been listening of late as Liberal women lamented the lack of support they receive in pre-selection battles and beyond.

The Nationals are a small party but almost one-third of the Lower House candidates in this campaign are women, as well as almost half of the Senate candidates.

At least two of those — Sam McMahon and Susan McDonald, the Senate candidates in the Northern Territory and Queensland — are expected to win.

If Anne Webster is successful in Mallee and Michelle Landry holds her seat, that would see the Nationals with more women in the party room than ever.

A grand total of five.