Julia Gillard and Tony Abbott will make their final pitches to the three country independents whose decision later on Tuesday will likely decide which of the two leaders will form a minority federal government.
Either one of them would make a good prime minister, said Rob Oakeshott, ahead of further talks he, Tony Windsor and Bob Katter will have about the final offers from both Labor and the coalition.
The trio is expected to make public their support for one side or the other at a press conference scheduled for 2pm (AEST).
Labor needs just two of the independents to form a minority government, while the coalition needs all three.
Mr Oakeshott said he and his colleagues would be sitting down in one room and working through the final offers.
"There'll be a couple more meetings with both Tony Abbott and Julia Gillard today," he told reporters at Parliament House in Canberra.
Mr Oakeshott said he had enormous respect for how both leaders had conducted negotiations during the past fortnight.
"Both would make very credible prime ministers regardless of what decision we make."
The MP said he hoped there would be some respect for the hard decision the independents had to make.
"Hopefully there is a recognition this is an unnatural choice that the three of us have got to make."
Mr Oakeshott, like Mr Windsor earlier, would not rule another election if neither side could win sufficient support for a minority government.
"I am doing all I can to quite genuinely have a stable parliament for the next three years," he said.
Mr Oakeshott said he had spoken to one of the leaders on the telephone.
"Quite frankly I was in the toilet when the other one dropped into my office and dropped some paperwork off," he said.
"I would expect offers in all their forms to come in throughout the day. And we have just got to manage truth from fiction."
The goodwill between the major parties and the independents was making the final decision more difficult.
"Unfortunately Julia Gillard and Tony Abbott aren't willing to work it through together so we have got to work it through for them and play a mediation role."
Mr Oakeshott said whoever the independents supported, it would not resolve the issues facing Australia.
"There is going to be as many negatives in the decision we go with as there are positives. But we have got to make a call," he said.
Mr Oakeshott said the worst outcome would be for the chosen minority government to opt to do nothing for three years, leaving the big issues for the government after that.
