He said it was unclear whether that will be “a minority government, or a majority government of one or two seats”.
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Despite the Nationals securing a bigger proportion of the Coalition vote, it is unclear whether Mr Turnbull will agree to an extra Cabinet seat.
Turnbull said there would be some changes to the ministry, because some ministers had lost their seats, but said they would not be on a “large scale”, which means a return to the front bench for the former prime minister Tony Abbott is unlikely.
Despite the ultimate victory of the conservative Coalition, its vote totals and number of parliamentary seats won represents a substantial drop from the last election, which was held in 2013.
Mr Shorten said it was clear PM Malcolm Turnbull’s coalition had won, adding that he had already congratulated him.
The conservative coalition has expressed confidence that it will have enough seats to govern with a majority after declaring it had won support of three independent politicians.
More than a week after the Federal Election fewer than 500 votes separates the major party contestants in five line-ball seats.
Parties are required to hold at least 76 seats in the House to form a majority government.
“I think we say that if a television advertisement or a newspaper advertisement by law has to say “authorised by XYZ on behalf of the Liberal Party of Australia or the Australian Labor Party” then so should a text message, so should a robo-call”, he said.
Industry Minister Christopher Pyne said the coalition had a clear mandate to deliver on its election promises.
“I hope for our nation’s sake the coalition does a good job”, Shorten told reporters in Melbourne.
Turnbull’s victory speech came hours after the leader of the center-left opposition Labor Party Bill Shorten rang the premier to concede his party would not be able to form a government. “Regrettably, several ministers have not been returned and so there will be some changes”, Turnbull said on Monday.
But a tight election this year and a close-run poll in 2010 demonstrate how polls can drag on for weeks before final results are declared, with electoral officials recounting by hand as they painstakingly pore over slender margins and wait for postal ballots to arrive.
Turnbull said electronic voting was “something we must look at”, and also flagged regulation of “extremely deceptive” robo-calls and text messages sent out during a campaign.
The prime minister has long advocated electronic voting and the opposition leader will write to him this week to offer bipartisan support.
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“The result finally gives some clarity to the Australian public on the state of the government and the direction we are header”, Brennan says.
