Australia Votes 2022: Scott Morrison urges Australians to avoid 'unknown' Anthony Albanese after calling election

Ending days of speculation, the Prime Minister has confirmed Australians will head to the polls on May 21, setting the stage for a 41-day campaign.

Speaking after a meeting with Governor-General David Hurley on Sunday morning, Mr Morrison framed the election as a contest between an imperfect government and an unknown Labor Party.

"It's a choice between a government you know and a Labor opposition that you don't," he said.

"Our government is not perfect. We've never claimed to be. But we are upfront, and you may see some flaws but you can also see what we have achieved for Australia in incredibly difficult times."

Mr Morrison's first full term has been dominated by the COVID-19 pandemic, natural disasters, and rising cost of living pressures.

But he urged Australians to opt for continuity rather than a Labor Party which "can't manage money".

"I know Australians have been through a very tough time. I also know that Australia continues to face very tough challenges in the years ahead," he said.

"More than ever, I know that we live in the best country in the world and more that than ever I am optimistic about our future and what I know Australians can achieve."

Mr Morrison committed to serving a full term if re-elected.

A High Court ruling on Friday, refusing to hear a challenge to Mr Morrison's intervention on NSW preselections, cleared a path for him to call the election this weekend.

The ruling secured Mr Morrison's 'captain's picks' in a host of seats across NSW, but the state branch remains ruptured but infighting.

Sucking oxygen from the government's budget night pitch, Liberal senator Concetta Fierravanti-Wells, who was demoted to an unwinnable position on the party's Senate ticket, blasted her leader as an "autocrat" and "unfit to be prime minister".

But despite the Coalition's internal warring, Mr Morrison insisted Labor was "so focused on politics" that it was unable to "tell you what they do, who they are, what they believe in".

"I get that it people are tired of politics as we go into this election. But this election, and this campaign, is incredibly important," he said.

"That's because there is so much at stake for Australia and our future."

Polls show the Prime Minister on course for defeat, but Labor has framed itself as the underdog after Mr Morrison's "miracle" win in the 2019 election.

Redistribution means the Coalition notionally holds 76 seats seats, the minimum required to form majority government, and will need to match or better its 2019 showing.

Mr Morrison has consistently led Mr Albanese as Australians' preferred prime minister, but has seen his lead tighten in recent weeks.

And his attempts to pit the vote as a choice of leaders has been made harder by a difficult fortnight, including a number of colleagues labelling him a bully and a liar.

Former Liberal candidate for Cook Michael Towke also went public with claims Mr Morrison weaponised his Lebanese heritage during a vicious pre-selection battle in 2007, which the Prime Minister denied.

The 46^th parliament was immediately struck by natural disaster.

Mr Morrison initially holidayed in Hawaii as the Black Summer bushfires wreaked havoc across Australia, before returning to a hostile reception in fire-ravaged areas of the south coast.

Just months later, his personal standing improved as the federal government navigated the COVID-19 pandemic.

But a sluggish vaccine rollout, a chaotic Christmas period as Omicron ran riot, and criticism over the federal government's response to recent flooding has seen his approval ratings slip.

Mr Morrison attempted to head off the criticism on Saturday night, when he released a highly-choreographed advertisement conceding "setbacks" over the past three years.

"There's drought, there's floods, there's fire, there's pandemic, there is now war [in Ukraine]," he said.

"We're dealing with a world that has never been more unstable since the time of the Second World War."