As millions of Australians begin casting their votes, the prime minister visited his first polling booth of the day in the razor-edge seat of Menzies.
Arriving at Kerrimuir Primary School in Melbourne's east on Saturday morning, Mr Albanese posed with voters and their families and a young girl named Emily showed him her toy named "Buzzy Bee".
"Come here Emily and we'll get a photo here - Buzzy Bee's smiling!" the prime minister said.
Emily Thompson and her seven-year-old son Will were starstruck upon spotting the Australian leader on the way to getting their democracy sausage.
"We just came for something to eat and the prime minister is here," Ms Thompson told AAP.
In a marked departure from previous polling centre visits, where Liberal supporters have accosted the prime minister and followed him with their corflutes, local volunteers here greeted Mr Albanese with one even going for a handshake.
"Thanks for participating in democracy," the prime minister told him.
Though the Menzies electorate is held by the coalition, a redistribution has flipped the seat from a 0.7 margin for the Liberals to a 0.4 per cent margin for Labor.
Defending MP Keith Wolahan is one of the Liberal's leading moderates, though the faction was swallowed by independent challengers at the 2022 election.
It was game-on for Mr Albanese as kicked off polling day from the nation's largest capacity sporting arena.
"Today's grand final day," he told Sunrise from the Melbourne Cricket Ground.
"We're into time-on and I've left nothing on the field - and I'll leave nothing on the field over the next three years if I'm re-elected as Australia's prime minister.
"I'm going to continue to kick goals for Australia."
After five weeks of campaigning with more than 70 stops across every state and territory, everything comes down to Saturday's poll.
But Mr Albanese refuses to falter at the finish line and continues to spruik Labor's plans to cut student debt and boost Medicare throughout the morning.
Polling tipped in Labor's favour as the campaign wore on, but the possibility of a minority government looms large as more Australians move towards independents and the minor parties.
Mr Albanese has urged Australians to "think very carefully" and warned against alternative options.
"We take absolutely nothing for granted until the results are in," he told Nine's Today show.
"People don't know what the outcome is going to be."
An estimated 10 million people are expected to cast their ballot on Saturday, with more than seven million having already voted during the two-week pre-poll period.
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