[2] The proclamation dissolving the House of Representatives and formally beginning the election period had been issued by Governor-General Bryce on 5 August 2013.

A special half-Senate election was conducted on 5 April 2014 in Western Australia as a result of 1,375 lost ballot papers.

However, following a leadership ballot in June 2013, she was replaced as leader and prime minister by Rudd, who then abandoned the originally planned date.

After gaining the support of the Greens and three independents on confidence and supply votes, Labor was able to form a minority government with 76 seats, the smallest possible margin in the 150-seat House.

Members and senators who chose not to renominate are as follows: The incumbent Labor-led government argued for a need for a "safe pair of hands" to manage an economic shift from mining-oriented growth to something else; while the opposition said that it would prevent a recession that could be caused by a budget deficit.

At the rally, he promised tax breaks for small businesses and more work for local contractors on infrastructure projects.

Fairfax's newspapers, The Sydney Morning Herald and The Canberra Times both considered the need for political stability a primary reason for supporting the Coalition, as well as criticising Labor's continuing infighting and scandals.

The Sunday Age, however, supported the Coalition, rejecting their daily counterpart's editorial that Labor had vision and that the election amounted to choosing a lesser evil, noting that during the election campaign a "genuine contest of ideas [had] not materialised", that "the campaign [had] contained no vision or policy clarion call commanding our attention and demanding our vote" and subsequently that "in the absence of policies and detailed economic information, voter decisiveness will depend on one issue: trust.

"[89] During this period, various News Corp's papers published numerous front-page articles supporting The Coalition and denigrating Labor.

During the campaign, The Daily Telegraph ran front pages depicting Labor as Nazis,[90] displaying a picture of Rudd above a headline telling readers to "Kick this mob out,[91] and, on election day, ran the headline "After 33 days campaigning, 18 babies kissed, 104,275 km flown and six years of an incompetent Labor government, now it's... your turn.

[93] Additionally, The Courier-Mail used a front page to depict Labor as clowns,[94] and ran a headline of "Does This Guy Ever Shut Up" alongside a photo of Rudd during a debate.

[122][123] After the final recount the result was duly declared which changed the last two predicted WA Senate spots from Palmer and Labor back to Sports and Green.

Mick Keelty, a former AFP Commissioner, was requested by the AEC to investigate the issue of the misplaced ballot papers.

Kevin Rudd announced his resignation as party leader and confirmed he would not run again in the subsequent leadership election.

[132] Julian Assange failed to be elected to the Senate after running in Victoria, with his WikiLeaks Party garnering 0.62% of the popular vote.

The Coalition had campaigned on a tough stance on asylum seekers who came to Australia by boat (as had the Labor Party in the final weeks leading up to the election).

Immediately after the election, Abbott reiterated his party's promise and announced that his new government would begin Operation Sovereign Borders—which would turn back any vessels carrying asylum seekers—as soon as possible.

He also confirmed he would abolish the carbon price that was introduced by the Gillard government,[136] as well as lower foreign aid by A$4.5 billion.