AUSTRALIA’S re-elected Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was greeted by well-wishers at a Sydney cafe today and said the country had voted for unity over division.

Mr Albanese’s Labour Party won an emphatic victory in elections on Saturday. As vote counting continued, the government was on track to win at least 85 seats in the 150-seat House of Representatives.

The victory makes Mr Albanese the first Australian prime minister to lead a party to consecutive election victories since rightwinger John Howard in 2004.

Labour held 78 seats in the previous Parliament, and gaining seats in a second term is rare in Australian politics.

“The Australian people voted for unity rather than division,” Mr Albanese told reporters in the cafe in inner-suburban Leichhardt where he and his fiancee, Jodie Haydon, gathered with colleagues and supporters.

“We’ll be a disciplined, orderly government in our second term, just like we have been in our first,” he added.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers, the government’s top economic minister, explained the election result as voters seeking stability after United States President Donald Trump's tariff sledgehammer to the global economy.

Mr Chalmers told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation of the election result: “We know that this second term has been given to us by the Australian people because they want stability in uncertain times.” 

In an election result reminiscent of Canada's recent contest, right wing opposition leader Peter Dutton — branded “DOGE-y Dutton” — lost his parliamentary seat.

His alliance of parties was reduced to 37 seats.