Labour Wins!!!!!!!

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Kevin Rudd is set to become the next prime minister of Australia, with the Australian Labor Party taking at least 80 seats in the House of Representatives, according to election predictions.

Deputy Labor leader Julia Gillard has all but claimed victory for her party.

"I'd say on the numbers we're seeing tonight Labor is going to form government," Ms Gillard told ABC TV, over the cheers of Labor supporters.

John Howard biographer Peter Van Onselen said Labor have an unbeatable lead. "Even if the Liberal Party do as well as they can in the west they can't win this election, they are too far behind," he said.

Ms Gillard's appearance in the tally room at Canberra's National Exhibition Centre prompted rapturous screams and chanting.

The biggest cheers had been saved for Maxine McKew, who has pulled further ahead of Prime Minister John Howard in Bennelong with 70 percent of the vote counted, and looks likely to win the seat with a current swing of 5.2 percent.

But Rudd is "too cautious to get excited", Labor sources said.

Labor need to win 76 seats to take government from the Coalition for the first time in 11 years.

Indigenous Affairs Minister Mal Brough has almost certainly lost his Queensland seat of Longman to Labor's Jon Sullivan, after suffering a 10.6 percent swing with 75 percent of the vote counted.

The litmus-test seat of Eden Monaro appears to have been convincingly won by Labor candidate Mike Kelly, who unseats Liberal front bencher Gary Nairn.

In early election results, Environment Minister Malcolm Turnbull was just ahead of Labor's George Newhouse in Wentworth, with 48 percent of the primary vote and 50.2 percent of the two-party preferred vote.

Federal Agriculture Minister Peter McGauran looked likely to retain his Victorian seat of Gippsland, despite a small swing of 1.25 per cent against him.

Other early results indicated a grim fate for the Coalition, particularly in mortgage-belt strongholds in NSW.

Labor looked likely to romp home in Lindsay, the seat formerly held by Liberal MP Jackie Kelly and the site of the Muslim pamphlet scandal this week.

Labor's David Bradbury had 52.9 per cent of the two-party preferred vote, putting him in a strong position against Liberal candidate Karen Chijoff.

The Chaser's Charles Firth, working for the Nine Network, caused a flurry in the tally room when he approached Liberal senator Bill Heffernan with an oversized cardboard copy of the notorious fake Muslim letter.

Senator Heffernan grabbed the novelty letter and made an attempt to tear it. As a huge media pack gathered around the pair, Senator Heffernan appeared to calm down and had a brief conversation with Firth.

Nationals leader Mark Vaile should comfortably hold his NSW seat of Lyne.

Labor is in with a chance of snaring the blue ribbon NSW Nationals seat of Page. Labor candidate Janelle Saffin had a 10 per cent swing to her, but was still behind the Nationals' Chris Gulaptis is leading on 3039 votes.

In the Victorian electorate of La Trobe, candidates Jason Wood (Liberal) and Rodney Cocks (Labor) were running neck and neck with 32 percent of the vote counted.

Victoria is not expected to play a crucial role in determining the election outcome, but a big swing against the Coalition could result in several Victorian seats changing hands.

Earlier, exit polls indicated that Labor will win the 2007 election in a landslide with 53 per cent of the vote on a two-party preferred basis.

The Sky News and Network Seven exit poll of 2700 voters across 31 marginal Coalition seats in Australia shows that Mr Rudd will be the next prime minister.