It will be up to two weeks before the final absentee votes are counted and the winners of five seats are declared but the outcome so far appears to be a three-seat lead for the Labor Party and its leader, Julia Gillard.

Both Labor and the main opposition group Liberal-National coalition, led by Liberal Party leader Tony Abbott, likely are to just miss the required 76 seats for a majority in the House of Representatives, the lower house from where the government is formed.

Voting for the 14 million registered voters is compulsory by law and the results put Gillard ahead, just.

The latest figures from public broadcaster Australian Broadcasting Company give Labor 72 seats and the coalition 69 seats. The Green Party secured one seat and independents won three.

Gillard and Abbott are in intense negotiations with the three independents who include a Stetson-wearing politician nicknamed "Mad Bob."

Gillard, the country's first woman prime minister, has vowed to do all she can to continue governing and she has had talks with the independent and the Green Party politicians to gauge whether she can count on their support to form a government, albeit a minority government.

On live television Gillard said Australia was at "an historic moment" in its democratic history but the country's democratic processes were strong.

"There is some uncertainty over the result," she said.

"I have had discussions today with each of the current independents in the House of Representatives. It is my intention to negotiate in good faith an effective agreement to form a government. It is clear that neither party has earned the right to govern in its own right."

Gillard, 48, a lawyer born in Barry, Wales, could be fighting for her political life, making her discussions with the independent politicians particularly intense.

Gillard was deputy prime minister when she wrestled the position of prime minister from Kevin Rudd in June. She called the snap election at the beginning of July, saying she was aware of being unelected to the job and was going to give Australians their right to vote for who leads their country.

What amounted to an internal coup against Rudd -- who guided Labor to a landslide victory in 2007 -- was to stem what party many Cabinet members believed was a worsening of the party's image under Rudd. His popularity had plummeted in public opinion polls since the beginning of the year.

But the election was always expected to be a close battle, even by Abbott, a Rhodes scholar, journalist and former concrete plant manager. It was the first election for Abbott, 52, born in London to Australian parents and who took over leadership of the Liberals in December.

Abbott, who has also had talks with the independents, said the election results show Labor had lost not only its parliamentary majority but also its legitimacy. "There was a savage swing against this government," he said.

Gillard likely can count on the support of Adam Bandt, a former barrister and Australia's first Green Party member of Parliament who retook his seat.

Before the election Bandt said would favor Labor and he backs the party's plans to create a national broadband network. But Bandt wants tougher taxation of mining companies than proposed by Labor.

The next several days may see some old-style pork-barrel politics among Gillard, Abbott and the three independents they are wooing.

The three independents are Bob Katter, Tony Windsor and Rob Oakeshott, all whom have said they may band together to form a bloc and throw their weight behind Gillard or Abbott.

Stetson-wearing Katter, 60, who represents a tough rural Outback seat, is noted for being unpredictable and often is called Mad Bob because of it. The climate-change skeptic and former National Party member is against free trade agreements and wants to slap a 10 percent import duty on goods from outside Australia.

Windsor, 59, has said he will support the party with the most seats. The former National Party member fights for better health, education and communications services for remote communities.

Oakeshott, 41, also supports the development of rural services and infrastructure and is thought to support Labor.

Gillard and Abbott may have a fourth independent member of Parliament to talk to if Andrew Wilkie wins his seat. Wilkie, 49, is a Labor-leaning former Green Party politician in the southern island state of Tasmania.

Wilkie is a former soldier and intelligence official in the national intelligence agency Office of National Assessments. But he resigned from the ONA in 2003 over Australia's support for the U.S.-led Iraq war.

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