China, Welcome to Country and egg prices: Albanese named winner in fiery final debate — as it happened

Thanks for joining us for another day (and debate) on the election campaign. I hope you've had fun.

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If you're just joining us now, here's the key takeaways.

• Peter Dutton won the coin toss. He says he believes Australia will "vote for change". Meanwhile, Anthony Albanese says voters deserve certainty for the next couple of years. 
• Both leaders were given a chance to give their pitch on the cost of living. They both didn't offer anything beyond what they'd already promised. 
• The PM says negative gearing is off the table. Meanwhile, Dutton avoided saying where his cuts to migration would come from. 
• The pair traded barbs over inflation as Dutton and Albanese both insisted they would be better placed to manage the economy. 
• On the Welcome to Country, Dutton argued there was a sense in the community it was overdone but insisted he'd keep it for "significant events". Albanese said it was a "sign of respect" and a choice for each organisaiton. 
• Albanese was also questioned if he still believes in the notion of a Voice to Parliament despite the failed referendum. He says while the process failed, Indigenous Australians should still be consulted on policy that affects them. 
• There was one bit of agreement for the leaders when they agreed the date of Australia Day should not be moved. 
• Donald Trump also took focus during the debate. But the more interesting bit is when Albanese tied himself up in knots while trying to explain why he doesn't text the US president.
• Dutton named China as the biggest threat to Australia's security. The PM said China was a threat, but declined to say it was the "biggest".  
• Meanwhile, Dutton was quizzed about why he chose not to visit the communities where he wants to build nuclear power plants. He argued he was proud of his policy.
• So who won the debate? Seven's undecided voters panel gave Anthony Albanese the win. 

Anthony Albanese has scored a decisive win over Peter Dutton with Seven's room of undecided voters, winning the support of 50 per cent of the 60 voters compared to Dutton's 25 per cent.

The remaining quarter of the room remains undecided — or, at least, not willing to make a choice between the two major parties.

"I'm working out which independent I'm voting for," one man says.

We have one of the closer results of the night so far, with Seven's 60 undecided voters splitting fairly evenly when it comes to which leader they thought performed best on defence.

Peter Dutton picked up 43 per cent of the room, while Albanese scored support from 37 per cent.

The second result might be a trickier one to wrap your head around (unless you watched the debate) — who responded best to the "hot takes"?

They are, of course, referring to the rapid-fire segment (of what was already a pretty rapid-fire debate), in which the party leaders were asked to provide instant opinions on a series of pictures, soundbites and prompts.

Albanese comfortably beat Dutton on this topic, winning over 50 per cent of the room to Dutton's 14 per cent.

Notably, this was the period of the debate in which Albanese responded "I did" to the accusation that he had broken his word that he'd make no changes to the stage 3 tax cuts.

It doesn't seem like the jury room had a problem with the PM's admission.

Michael Usher asks Katy Gallagher and James Paterson a favourite question of panel moderators everywhere — what did the other side do well?

Gallagher appears to be genuinely stumped.

"Um, you might have to give me a while on that one. Seriously," she replies.

Paterson has a lengthier answer.

"I have many criticisms of the prime minister but I think he sincerely loves this country and he is trying to do his best," he says.

"I think what we've learned over this last term though is his best is not good enough. He is not up to this job."

Peter Dutton started off nervous but ended up better and with some long term vision

- Amy

Albanese appeared to have a much more long term vision. As a young voter, cost of living help is great but I have another 60 years ahead that's why I think Albanese won. Dutton gave some examples of what he will do in his first year but not much beyond

- J

I think Albanese wins this debate, I think on his energy policy it was quite strong and well thought out. I do think Dutton was quite good on this debate so it was good to watch.

- Sam

Let us know who you think won by by using the comment button at the top of the blog.

Finance Minister Katy Gallagher and Liberal frontbencher James Paterson have now joined the panel.

Probably both unsurprisingly, they think their respective leader nailed the debate.

Paterson is asked why he thinks Dutton can't get his message across to voters.

"I think Australians know when they go to the supermarket checkout and it's worse than was just the week before, every week it gets worse," he says.

Meanwhile, Gallagher defended the PM's answers on the Voice referendum and Welcome to Country.

"The prime minister has been clear, acknowledgement of country is about respect, it's about respect for the fact that we share this beautiful country with the culture that it goes back tens of thousands of years," she says.

We've got two more topic results from Seven's "jury room" — tax cuts and Indigenous affairs.

On tax cuts, Albanese scored a clear victory — winning over 49 per cent of the room compared to Dutton's 21 per cent.

The script is flipped though when it comes to Indigenous affairs, with Dutton scoring well when asked about Welcome to Country ceremonies and his declaration that he won't stand in front of the Aboriginal flag when holding press conferences as prime minister.

He's walked away with 46 per cent of the room, compared to Albanese's 27 per cent.

As expected, nothing new.  Dutton went hard on the culture war stuff and took the opportunity to remind voters of The Voice referendum.  

That was really the only point of difference from the previous three debates. 

Each party’s core message is firmly set from now until election day, barring some major, unexpected event. 

And that’s always the big “unknown unknown” in politics, as the former US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumseld once put it!

Early on in tonight's debate, Opposition Leader Peter Dutton labelled Welcome to Country ceremonies 'overdone'.

We have some results in now from Seven's group of 60 undecided voters (which they're calling the "jury room").

They asked the group to choose which leader was better on the cost of living and housing.

Albanese has romped home on the cost of living, winning over 65 per cent of the group on the issue, compared to Dutton's 16 per cent.

It's closer on housing, but Albanese still has the edge — winning 35 per cent of the group compared to Dutton's 30 per cent.

Well, that's up to you. Let us know who you think won the debate by leaving us a comment.

If you're wondering who 7 News will declare the winner, they're currently tabulating the results compiled by an audience of 60 undecided viewers who were watching from its election studio.

The PM says he's optimistic about Australia's future.

"What gives me hope is the resilience, the courage, the optimism of the Australian people," he says.

"We are the greatest country on the planet. We are driven by our people as well as, of course, the natural assets that we enjoy."

He goes on to list Labor's policies he says are investing in people — schools funding reform, early childhood education, free TAFE — and says his government is working with the Australian people to bring down inflation.

"If we get it right, the future is so bright for us because we live in the fastest-growing region of the world in human history, and our people are our greatest asset — including our multiculturalism, of course, gives us those direct links to the economies of Asia," he says.

It's perhaps not the world's most focused answer, but it certainly hits some key Labor points — and it's a fitting way to cap off a debate in which both leaders were constantly racing to finish their answers before being played off by music.

Here's a moment from earlier — Anthony Albanese said he would commit to renewable energy backed by gas fired power plans.

Peter Dutton fired back, stating that policy would ruin Australia economically.

Peter Dutton makes his final pitch directly to the voters who are doing it tough at the moment.

"If we make the right decisions now, we can protect our generation and future generations and make our country and our communities safer," he says.

"That's exactly what I'm dedicated to doing.

"If people vote for the Liberal and National candidate at this election, we can get our country back on track and we can make sure that we can invest into families, help grow our economy, reduce interest rates and help Australians get through what has been a terrible period."

Mark Riley tells the leaders to give people some hope with their final remarks.

A clip is played showing Peter Dutton apologising for pledging to force public servants back into the office full time, after he reversed the policy.

He's asked how did he get it so wrong?

Dutton says the plan was to get it back to pre-COVID levels, which was about 60 per cent of people at work with some flexibility.

He then goes into familiar territory: blaming Labor for making the issue "something it wasn't".

Albanese jumps in.

"You said when you announced the policy that people could just job share. That's what you said.

"Since the backflip, a number of your people, senior people, have said that they still support the policy, it was just the wrong time."

The moderators play the prime minister a soundbite — accompanied by video, so more of a video clip — of him saying: "My word is my bond."

He's talking about the stage 3 tax cuts.

"Remember that? You broke your word," Riley tells the PM.

"I did. I did. I changed my mind," the PM responds.

"Because I could not resile from the need to do something to help people because of cost-of-living pressures.

"So what I did is I fronted up, I went along to the National Press Club and did not pretend we had not changed our position.

"I went along and argued the case and guess what? The Coalition voted for it."

Dutton is asked the same question — is his word his bond?

"Yes it is," he replies.

"If you're talking about the stage 3 tax cuts, don't forget it was stage 3 because stage 1 and stage 2 tax cuts were introduced by the Coalition government. So we supported stage 3 tax cuts."