Fewer than one in five voters think Bill Shorten will win the election, yet around half intend to give his party either their first or second preference, according to the final Fairfax-Ipsos poll on the eve of the election.
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The contradiction points to a looming dead heat that has lifted the potential for Saturday's election to deliver either a shock Labor win, a narrow Coalition victory, or a hung Parliament with no side commanding a majority in the House of Representatives.
A massive 27 per cent of voters apparently remain intent on supporting Greens and other crossbench parties and independents, as support for the major parties threatens to erode further.