Leaders of Australia’s two major political parties lobbied for support from independent MPs today to stitch together the nation’s first minority government since the war.

The leaders of Australia’s two major political parties began negotiating power deals with independent lawmakers today after the nation’s closest election in decades failed to deliver a clear mandate to govern.

Prime minister Julia Gillard said today no major party had won a majority of parliamentary seats in Australia’s general election and she had started negotiating with independent MPs in an effort to cling to power.

It could take more than a week to learn who will govern Australia after a cliffhanger election – the closest in nearly 50 years – and the winner may have to woo the support of a handful of independent lawmakers in order to assume power.

Australians today chose between giving their first female prime minister her own election mandate and returning to a conservative government after just three years.

Voting has now ended across Australia in the country's general election.

Australians were choosing between two relatively unknown, but divergent personalities in a tight election race today, pitting the country’s first female prime minister against her socially conservative challenger just two months after she took power.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard and two of her predecessors went before cheering crowds as Australia’s governing party launched its re-election campaign today, and an opinion poll showed it leading the opposition in a tight race.

The Labour Party candidate who ousted former Australian Prime Minister John Howard from his Sydney constituency after 33 years formally declared victory today.

Australians entered a new political era today after electing their first new prime minister in more than a decade, and handing four-term leader John Howard a humiliating loss.

Australia’s outgoing Prime Minister John Howard said it is “very likely” he will lose his seat in Parliament, minutes after he conceded defeat in the national election.

Prime minister John Howard faced the humiliating prospect of losing his seat in Parliament, as well as his grip on power, in Australia’s elections today.

Australians were voting today in elections that pit a four-term prime minister selling his economic management record against a new-age challenger who rates global warming as his number one priority.