Albanese casts his vote in Sydney

The news: Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has cast his vote in the federal election at a polling booth in his Sydney electorate, with fiancee Jodie Haydon and son Nathan by his side. His dog Toto also made an appearance, wearing a "first dog" bandana.

Before voting, Albanese spent time outside the busy booth at Marrickville West Public School in his electorate of Grayndler, after flying into Sydney from Melbourne on Saturday morning. NSW marks the final stop of his blitz of all six states since his National Press Club address on Wednesday.

The prime minister left amid both cheers and jeers from the crowd.

The numbers: Albanese has been the local MP for Grayndler, an ultra-safe Labor seat, since 1996. In 2022, he secured 53.6% of the votes or 67.1% after preferences.

The context: Polling indicates Labor is on track to win a second term under Albanese, but Coalition strategists are hopeful they can pick up more than 10 seats and push him into minority government. Labor, meanwhile, is zeroing in on eight Liberal- and Greens-held seats in a bid to govern in its own right.