9.22pm:  Here’s where Eden-Monaro stands according to the ABC.

8.28pm: From the neighbours: GILMORE 69.959 votes counted (50 of 65 places returned, 43.37% counted)

RYAN (Nile Group) 3146 (first preference)

SUDMALIS (Liberal) 27,515

McCALLUM  (Greens) 6615

PHILLIPS (Labor) 25,735

Ann Sudmalis looking like she may hold just …...

8.20pm: ABC's Barry Cassidy is predicting a hung parliament.

8.13pm: Labor candidate for Eden-Monaro, Mike Kelly, arrives at the Queanbeyan Leagues Club.

7.55pm: Well, at this point in proceedings in 2013 the election had been called for the Coalition.

Tonight, it's a much closer call.

7.21pm: The bell-weather status of Eden Monaro  is up in the air tonight with the ABC saying the ALP is poised to win there with a swing of 4.7 per cent to Mike Kelly.

6.55pm: 9.8 per cent of votes counted in neighbouring Gilmore and ALP is ahead 4.2 per cent.

6.53pm: So far in the counting Coalition has claimed 43 seats, ALP 21.

6.49pm: Early days, 1.7 per cent of votes counted and Eden-Monaro is leaning Labor 6.2 per cent.

6.45pm: 5.8 per cent swing to Labor in Eden-Monaro.

6.38pm: Channel Seven's exit poll, conducted by ReachTEL, has put the Coalition on 51-49.

6.24pm: Here’s a quick video to help you brush up on how Federal Parliament works.

6.16pm: 15,676,659 Australians enrolled to vote in 2016.

6.04pm: That’s it. Pencils down we’re done, the polls are now closed.

5.30pm: We are 30 minutes from the end of the nation’s longest election campaign.

4.44pm: Sitting Coalition member Ann Sudmalis has shortened (no pun intended) to $1.22 to retain the seat of Gilmore on election markets at Sportsbet.com.au. Challenger and Labor candidate Fiona Phillips has drifted out to $4. Labor’s Sharon Bird is an unbackable $1.001 for the seat of Cunningham as is Labor’s Stephen Jones in the seat of Whitlam.

3.50pm: Look what the most tweeted emoji is so far according to ABC24.

3.41pm: Carol Carmody, president of the Liberal Party Bega branch at Cobargo. 

3.40pm: Reg Dew, volunteer for the Labor Party at the polling booth in Cobargo.

3.13pm: When it comes to today's election coverage, it seems the average punter is more interested in their snags than the wags that lead our political parties. According to Twitter's #snagometer, peak sausage time was immediately after lunch. 

2.34pm: Voting is predicted to be close for the two major candidates, Labor’s Mike Kelly and the Liberal’s Peter Hendy, in the bellwether seat of Eden-Monaro.

Both candidates are calling on voters to look at their records with Dr Kelly saying he is proud of the record he established as previous member, working with the community and businesses “to deliver substantial outcomes for our region”, one of which was his early involvement in the South East Regional Hospital. 

Dr Hendy said he was very proud to be delivering a healthier community and pointed to both the South East Regional Hospital and also the carers accommodation as key parts of his work. Read the full story here.

2.24pm: 

1.54pm: Such a happy crowd at Central Tilba polling booth today. Click here to see more photos.

1.50pm: If you haven’t voted yet, now is a good time. The morning crowds have left and there’s still a few sausage sangas kicking about.

1.30pm: Here’s an election game someone just mentioned. Each time they hear their seat mentioned while watching election coverage, everyone has to finish whatever they are drinking. I highly recommend you stick to water or milk if you’re in Eden Monaro or Gilmore tonight.

1.05pm: From the twittersphere.

1pm: Bell weather seat fun facts: Eden-Monaro has existed since Federation and has been held by all parties over the years. The seat has always had a tendency to be won by the party that forms government, but this tendency has assumed 'litmus test' proportions since 1972, the seat having been won by the party that formed government at every election since 1972. 

12.56pm: Eden-Monaro is a mixed electorate covering 41,617 square kilometres in the south-east corner of NSW, completely surrounding the ACT. The largest concentration of voters live in the Canberra overflow around Queanbeyan, but the electorate also includes the fishing, holiday and retirement towns of Merimbula, Narooma and Bermagui on the NSW far south coast, the agricultural and forestry districts around Bega and Eden, Cooma and the NSW snowfields, and Yass, Batlow and Tumut to the north and west of the ACT. 

12.31pm: The polling booths around the Far South Coast are packed. Most of the schools and red cross are making use of the crowds to hold fundraisers.

9.40am: Tell us, where are the best sausage sizzles in the Illawarra on election day? Leave a tip in the comments below.

9.30am: If you’re still not sure who to vote for, here are your Cunningham, Whitlam and Gilmore candidates at a glance.

9.20am: It is feeding time at the zoo, finally. It is election day. For entertainment in the long queues while you are waiting to vote today, try this political game. 

9.10am: Support for same-sex marriage has surged to a record high, while Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has received a late boost with the Coalition's plan to hold a plebiscite also backed by a thumping majority of Australian voters.

9.10am: Take your own pen, if you are worried about vote tampering.

In Australia, all booths provide lead pencils. But it is not against the law to take your own pen with you, says the Australian Electoral Commission.

During the Brexit vote in the UK, some members of the United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP) worried that votes in pencil would be tampered with by spies from MI5, the spy agency. (No mention of James Bond 007).  Conspiracy theorists urged people to take black pens into the polling station. 

We use pencils for practical reasons: They last, they don't mind the cold, they don't mind the heat, and they last longer than pens. 

8.30am: 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.

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.

Stay with us throughout the day as we bring you the latest election coverage across the Illawarra.

About 7000 polling places will be operating from 8am to 6pm on election day, Saturday, July 2.