Key Points
- Polls have closed in all east coast states besides Queensland as Australians have their say on the Indigenous Voice to Parliament.
- The majority of polling booths opened at 8am on Saturday after months of debate over the Voice proposal.
- Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is "very hopeful" for a Yes vote, but the No camp is confident it will fail.
Polls in the nation's first referendum in a generation have closed in eastern states, as well as South Australia, as millions of Australians deliver their verdict on an Indigenous Voice to Parliament.
Australians have flocked to more than 7,000 voting stations across the country, many of which closed at 6pm local time, voting on the first proposed change to the constitution since 1999.
Polls have not yet closed in two states and territories where it is not yet 6pm local time.
Voting in the Northern Territory will close at 7:30pm AEDT, and voting in Western Australia will close at 9pm AEDT.
That means results from the state, which polling suggests is likely to return a resounding No verdict, won't be delivered until later in the evening.
Speaking on Saturday, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said he was "very hopeful of a Yes vote", though the No camp remained confident it had secured enough support to sink the referendum.
The latest Newspoll showed the Voice proposal is set to fail and, despite a late swing towards a Yes vote, may fall short of securing a majority in any state.
Making his final pitch to voters in Sydney, Albanese said he had done everything he could to campaign strongly for a Yes vote.
"I am very hopeful of a Yes vote this evening," he told reporters.
"I stand here before you today as the 31st prime minister of Australia, saying this is an opportunity for Australia to unite, to be strengthened by reaching out to our most vulnerable citizens."
In an opinion piece released early on Saturday, Albanese said the referendum was a chance for Australians to "get it right" and show "a generosity of spirit".
"Rather than listening to the people who could guide them towards the best results, governments of all persuasions have wasted billions in a muddle of good intentions that haven't gotten results," he said.
Voters are being asked to write Yes or No to recognise the first peoples of Australia by establishing in the nation's founding document.
Minister for Indigenous Australians Linda Burney said with one in five people still undecided, she was working hard to get the Yes vote over the line.
"The issues faced by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in this country are a national shame. The good thing is everyone agrees on that. This is people's opportunity to change that," she said.
Burney said she had butterflies in her stomach, and was hopeful a Yes vote would lead to greater outcomes for Indigenous people.
"If this is a successful referendum, the Closing the Gap targets will be turbocharged," she said.
"We have worked incredibly hard. We've knocked on thousands of doors, rung thousands of phones."
Minister for Indigenous Australians Linda Burney voted alongside NSW Premier Chris Minns. Source: AAP / Toby Zerna
No campaigners confident referendum won't succeed
High-profile are confident the referendum will fail and have called for unity after the vote and greater action to assist Indigenous people.
No advocate Warren Mundine said he was feeling good about the result swinging his way after a visit to a polling booth in Sydney on Saturday morning.
"I'm feeling comfortable," he told Nine's Today program.
"I've just come from polling booths in Randwick on the way to the airport, talked to the team out there and you know, they energised me."
Polling suggests the referendum is set to be defeated on both a state-by-state basis and overall population vote, despite a small uptick towards Yes in the final days of the campaign.
claimed the referendum had exposed elements of racism on both sides of the campaign and caused trauma.
"This referendum has done nothing but hurt people, divide communities, divide families," she told reporters at a polling station in Melbourne while wearing a T-shirt emblazoned with the words "Vote No".
Thorpe has been pushing for a Treaty over an enshrined advisory body but indicated she was open to supporting a legislated Voice if it had grassroots representation.
"This country is not ready to decide on our destiny, it never has been," she said.
"We have to self-determine our own destiny and the only way we can do that is through truth-telling in this country."
Independent Senator Lidia Thorpe is against Australia enshrining an Indigenous Voice to Parliament in the constitution. Source: AAP / Con Chronis
"Whether it is Yes, whether it is No, we have all got to come back together and start working on the real issues that are going to make this country a better country," he said.
As of Friday, 6.13 million Australians had already voted at early voting centres out of 17.7 million enrolled electors.
Postal votes can be received up to 13 days after the referendum but Australians must complete these by 6pm on Saturday.
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