Election night 2010: The Punch Party parties

10.32pm - Leo at Labor HQ: Crowd gathering around Bob Katter interview at Labor HQ, talk that Gillard will be here soon.

10.17pm - Colgo at Rocktapus! The encore was the whole room singing a capella renditions of I Was Made for Loving You followed by Total Eclipse of the Heart. Attention quickly shifted to the count and the comments in the room are about the vote being a mess and general remarks about disillusionment with the major parties.

10:10 pm - Leo at Labor HQ: Bloke yelling at the top of his lungs “the NSW Right has stuffed this party!” “Show me the NSW Right cause they’ve f****d this party.

9.57pm - Tors at Liberal HQ: John Howard has just arrived at the Four Seasons in Sydney saying “Tony Abbott has brought the Liberal Party back to life.” Here’s a picture.

9.51pm - Leo at Labor HQ: Just ran into Steve Bracks, looking somewhat pensive.

9.38pm - Tors at Lib HQ: The world won’t know what’s hit it. Wyatt Roy currently the highest trending Twitter topic internationally.

9.35 - Leo at Labor HQ: Increasing worry and acceptance at Labor HQ that that the ALP will not form a Government in its own right. Although Stirling a real roughie of the night.

9.27 - Leo at Labor HQ: Maxine McKew tirade didn’t go down well at Labor HQ. Although a lot of generally ignoring of her as well.

9.21pm - Colgo at Rocktapus!: They’re singing Livin’ on a Prayer. Ha.

9.15pm - Tors at Lib HQ: Spotted one of the “undecided voters” from the Rooty Hill forum here at the Lib bash in a Louise Markus T-shirt. When I asked him about it he mumbled something about being so convinced on the night that it inspired him to sign up as a volunteer. Then a nice young lady from the Liberal Party swooped in and said he wasn’t allowed to talk to the media. Good times.

9.13pm - Colgo at Rocktapus! Rocktapus! just took a break and everyone was discussing politics. Shaking heads and wide eyes in the room from people looking at the TV, disbelief at prospect of a hung parliament.

8.55pm - Leo at Labor HQ: Room pretty silent at Labor HQ as Rudd makes speech. Laughs out loud when Kerry O’Brien says “it could go on for some time”.

8.43pm - Leo at Labor HQ: Room just errupted and then silenced, upon hearing about La Trobe win then Melbourne loss to the Greens.

Here’s a cool pic of Micky Molloy and some other Melbourne comedic types at the Labor HQ:

8.39pm - Colgo at Rocktapus! Spoke to a couple of Greens voters who were generally despondent about the whole day. Voting Green was “just a glorified vote for Labor,” said one.

Stephen Smith and Nick Minchin say a hung parliament is likely.

And Rocktapus! are doing Bohemian Rhapsody for the crowd. It’s the heavy part. Hilarious when it’s just 14 people singing and making various noises on a stage.

8.20pm - Tors at Lib HQ: Have just arrived at the Four Seasons, where to say the vibe is upbeat is an understatement. Was at the Wentworth in 2007 for the same party where by this time of night many people were already a bit red around the eyes.

8.03pm - Colgo at Rocktapus! - So with nearly 40% of the vote counted the 2PP is 50.1 to the Libs, 49.9 to Labor. What was that everyone was saying about this being close?

In other news the Prime Minister’s beloved Western Bulldogs are playing the Sydney Swans and battling to keep up. Swans up by 15 in the 2nd quarter but just like the count there’s some way to go yet.

A couple of notable results: boy wonder Wyatt Roy looks set to win for the Liberals in Longman and become the youngest-ever member of Parliament, and Maxine McKew is looking gone in Bennelong. Long-time bellwether Eden-Monaro looks set to be held by the government though the numbers are coming back a bit towards the Liberals, and in the western Sydney seat of Lindsay, Liberal candidate Fiona Scott is just ahead in the count.

Oh, and it looks like the Greens will pick up Melbourne at this stage.

7.49 - Leo at Labor HQ: Labor media minder Tony Hodges has promised a table dance for the media if Labor get up. Staffers feeling like they will scrape home, but then they probably would say that.

7.22 - Leo at Labor HQ: Prime Minister Gillard has gone back to a hotel from the Labor HQ, she is currently with family members. She spoke to Labor staffers a short while ago, she thanked staff but the discussion was not very upbeat. And I take back what I said about staffers looking relaxed, they now look extremely anxious.

7.09pm - Colgo at Rocktapus! - and here’s Rocktapus! They’re doing Bohemian Rhapsody at the moment, with that philosophical line a lot of MPs might identify with right now. If I’m not back again this time tomorrow…

7.02pm - Colgo at Rocktapus!: I’m at a bar in Labor and Greens voting heartland in Glebe, inner western Sydney. There’s a sulphur crested cockatoo with a large perch of his own in the downstairs bar which is full of locals watching the trots, footy, and Channel 10’s election coverage on a big plasma.

The upstairs bar tonight is the venue for a band tonight called Rocktapus! which is just warming up. They’re a capella – no instruments – there’s and they were just rehearsing We Will Rock You complete with guitar parts on voices. We have a couple of pool tables and fusbal if the count starts going long into the night. There’s even a smoking lounge. Eat your hearts out, all you guys at non-smoking glitzy parties.

Kerry O’Brien might not approve but he’s on the big plasma in the corner.

7pm - Leo at Labor HQ: As very early results start to flow things are still way too close to call, but Labor staffers here at the Melbourne Convention Centre are looking decidedly more relaxed than in recent days. Victorian senator David Feeney, who was a central figure in the Rudd coup, is wandering around with a big smile on his face.

The polls on the East Coast have closed and now there’s nothing left for Julia Gillard and Tony Abbott to do but take a deep breath, have a beer and prepare a couple of speeches for either outcome. While we wait for results to flow in, please enjoy this summary of the campaign from the Taiwan News.

Julia Gillard’s supporters will soon gather at the Melbourne Convention Centre, where Leo will be keeping a close eye on developments.

Tony Abbott’s team has taken over the ball room of the Four Seasons at Circular Quay in Sydney. Tors will be there in a couple of hours time.

Penbo’s in Adelaide hosting an online Don’s Party-style party, with Graham “Alvin Purple” Blundell. You can watch online here from 7pm AEST.

Colgo’s gone a bit off the beaten track. He’ll be following the election from a pub in Glebe, where the entertainment will be provided by Rocktapus!, an a capella, air guitar rock covers and comedy act.

The Punch’s readers editor Lucy is having her own election night bash at her place, and no you can’t have the address. We’ll all be piling in here with party updates - please join in.