preferential voting

Australia uses a preferential voting system, where candidates are ranked in order of preference.

There's also more political fragmentation in the state, Dr Mols says, which combined with Australia's preferential voting system can make political equations here tighter, and trends harder to predict.

The other big stabiliser for Australia, say experts, is preferential voting – where voters effectively number their candidates in order of who they want to win.

Experts say preferential voting tempers the effects of polarisation and forces the two major parties to appeal to people who aren't necessarily voting for them first in order to receive their next preferences, which also helps moderate policy.

Voting is mandatory for all citizens over 18, the country uses preferential voting, and picking up a "democracy sausage" is a polling day custom.