Australia's left-leaning Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has won re-election in a landslide, defying the so-called "incumbency curse" that has haunted governing parties around the globe.
His Labor Party dealt a crushing defeat to its conservative opposition, which was thrown into further disarray when leader Peter Dutton lost a seat he has held for 24 years.
Here are five takeaways from Saturday's vote.
'Temu Trump'
US President Donald Trump's trade tariffs, and the chaos they unleashed, may not have been the biggest factor in the Labor Party victory -- but they helped.
Dutton vowed to slash the civil service, clamp down on immigration, and said he would not stand before an Aboriginal flag.
The harshest critics likened Dutton's offering to that of a "Temu Trump", an unflattering reference to the popular website offering cut-price unbranded goods.
"If we want to understand why a good chunk of the electorate has changed across the election campaign over the last couple of months, I think that's the biggest thing," said Henry Maher, a politics lecturer at the University of Sydney.
Curse or gift?
From South Africa to the United States, voters have in recent times turfed out a string of established governments in a global backlash dubbed the "incumbency curse".
With inflation biting, and populist parties seemingly on the rise elsewhere, many wondered whether Albanese's government would meet a similar fate.
Instead, Australians rewarded his steady-as-she-goes leadership style, choosing political stability in a time of global upheaval.
Nuclear fizzle
Dutton's US$200 billion promise to introduce atomic power to Australia for the first time has imploded.
The opposition leader was hounded on the campaign trail for not visiting any of the seven sites where he proposed to build industrial-scale nuclear reactors.
His nuclear dream included ramping up gas production, slowing the rollout of solar and wind projects, and ditching the clean energy goals set by Albanese's centre-left government.
"This was an energy referendum. Nuclear bombed at the ballot with Australians dubbing it toxic," said Amanda McKenzie, chief executive of clean energy advocate the Climate Council.
Conservatives drubbed
Dutton's Liberal-National coalition crashed to one of its worst-ever defeats, losing a string of seats once considered conservative strongholds.
With Dutton turfed from his own seat of Dickson -- an electorate he has held for 24 years -- the coalition will lick its wounds with no leader in place.
Notably, Dutton's opposition failed to win back a string of seats claimed by the so-called "teal" movement in 2022.
The teals -- a loose-knit group of political novices pushing for climate action -- held on to their inner-city seats despite a targeted conservative campaign.
Polls called it, almost
Most opinion polls picked the winner -- but few hinted at the scale of the Labor landslide.
"This was beyond even our most optimistic expectations. It was a history-making night. It was one for the ages," Treasurer Jim Chalmers said Sunday.
Most polls pointed towards a Labor government -- but were split on whether Albanese would command a slim majority, or cobble together a coalition.
Instead, Labor is on course to win at least 82 seats in the 150-member parliament, partial results showed, easily ahead of the 76 needed for majority rule.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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