Should the polls prove correct, Labor leader Anthony Albanese will be just the fourth Labor leader since World War II to lead the party to government from opposition.
However, after the bruising experience in 2019 where Labor lost an election the party was widely considered it would win, the 1000-odd supporters at Labor's election night function in Sydney's inner-west remained cautiously optimistic as the early results came through.
Party supporters at the Canterbury-Hurlstone RSL in the seat of Grayndler gave out cheers when early figures showed a swing to Labor in seats such as Dickson, held by Defence Minister Peter Dutton, Chisholm in Victoria, as well as Eden-Monaro in NSW.
There was also vocal support for Labor results from Robertson on the NSW Central Coast, with the electorate being one of the longest-serving bellwether seats.
There was even more enthusiasm from the crowd when results showed a swing against Liberal MP Dave Sharma in the inner-city Sydney seat of Wentworth, who was facing a challenge by prominent independent Allegra Spender.
Despite the early support in some areas of Labor, there was concern about the fate of some of its Queensland candidates, with swings to the Greens in Brisbane electorates such as Ryan and Griffith.
The Australian Electoral Commission listed Labor incumbents behind in Gilmore and Lyons.
Mr Albanese will be watching the vote count from his home in Marrickville in Sydney's inner-west.
He will then attend the RSL club to give his concession or victory speech later in the night.
While the opposition leader has always acknowledged winning the election would require a herculean effort, he has maintained Australia is ready for a change of government.
"The way you change the country is to change the government," he said on Saturday to reporters in Sydney.
"I'm in this not to change where I live, I'm in it to change the country - and that's what I intend to do."
Labor will need to have a net gain of seven seats to form a majority government at the 2022 poll.
Mr Albanese has said throughout the campaign he did not want to get ahead of himself.
"I'm making sure that I keep grounded," he said.
"When you've come from where I've come from, one of the advantages that you have is you don't get too ahead of yourself."
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