Australia's new government vows to protect country from 'dark shadow' of Trump's tariffs

Labor's Anthony Albanese is set to return as Prime Minister after a sweeping election victory over the conservative Liberal party.

Mr Albanese said after his victory that "the Australian people voted for unity rather than division".

With this victory, Mr Albanese becomes the first Australian PM to win successive elections in 21 years.

His Treasurer Jim Chalmers said the government's "immediate focus" would be on "global economic uncertainty, U.S. and China, and what it means for us.

"What's happening, particularly between the U.S. and China, does cast a dark shadow over the global economy ... We need to have the ability, and we will have the ability, to manage that uncertainty," he told the ABC.

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Both Mr Albanese and Mr Dutton, who is opposition leader, began Saturday in the electorally crucial city of Melbourne. Mr Albanese later returned home to Sydney to vote and Mr Dutton headed to his home city of Brisbane.

Energy policy and inflation have been major issues in the campaign, with both sides agreeing the country faces a cost-of-living crisis.

Mr Dutton's conservative Liberal Party blames government waste for fuelling inflation and increasing interest rates, and has pledged to axe more than one in five public service jobs to reduce government spending.

While both say the country should reach net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, Mr Dutton argues that relying on more nuclear power instead of renewable energy sources such as solar and wind turbines would deliver less expensive electricity.

Labour has branded the opposition leader "Doge-y Dutton" and accused his party of mimicking US President Donald Trump and his Department of Government Efficiency.

The cost of living crisis and Trump's controversial policies have been among top concerns for voters in Australia.

Mr Albanese's Labour Party had argued under Mr Dutton's Liberal party, services would be cut to pay for the party's nuclear ambitions.

Mr Albanese said: "We've seen the attempt to run American-style politics here of division and pitting Australians against each other and I think that's not the Australian way."

The Liberal Party leader had said he hoped to become the first political leader to drive out a first-term government since 1931 - a time when Australians were reeling from the Great Depression.

However, based on current projections, Mr Dutton's ambitions have seemingly not come to fruition.