Voters appear likely to have delivered Australia its first hung parliament since 1940, which means both Labor and the coalition will need to woo the crossbenches to form a minority government.
Three returned rural independents - Tony Windsor, Rob Oakeshott and Bob Katter - will share the balance of power with the Greens MP Adam Bandt.
Independent Andrew Wilkie is also in the race to snatch the seat of Denison in Tasmania, while West Australian Nationals MP Tony Crook has signalled he will act independently of the coalition.
Mr Windsor said the rural independents would be open to voting with the Greens, Mr Wilkie and Mr Crook on deciding who formed the next government.
"The three of us and the WA National and others and Andrew Wilkie, and the Green from Melbourne, we can make this work," Mr Windsor told ABC TV.
"If the major parties actually move away from this dog against dog attitude that they've had through the election campaign and look to the national interest on this ... we can come up with something that's quite successful."
Prime Minister Julia Gillard said yesterday she'd already spoken with the three incumbent independents and Mr Bandt and Mr Wilkie.
"It's my intention to negotiate in good faith an effective agreement to form government," she told reporters in Melbourne.
However, Mr Abbott, who's spoken to the three rural independents and left messages with the others, says it's "almost inconceivable that any Labor government emerging from this election could deliver competent and stable government".
NSW's Mr Windsor and Mr Oakeshott, along with Queensland's Mr Katter, were expected to discuss their negotiation strategy via a phone hook-up late on Sunday night.
There's a possibility they could then travel to Canberra for a face-to-face meeting today.
Mr Oakeshott says the three will stand "shoulder to shoulder" over the coming weeks.
The Australian Electoral Commission has so far called 70 seats for Labor, the same for the coalition, three to independents and one to the Greens.
Six seats - Boothby, Brisbane, Corangamite, Denison, Hasluck and Lindsay - remain in doubt.
Ms Gillard will be in Canberra on Monday and could possibly meet with the independents.
Mr Abbott's spokeswoman said he was staying in Sydney last night.
She wouldn't confirm his movements today.
