Federal election 2022: In Scott Morrison's heartland, locals pray for election 'miracle 2.0'

The jubilant and exultant cheers which filled the Liberal Party's election night event three years ago were replaced with deflation on Saturday night, as the trickling in of votes confirmed the end of Coalition's term in office.

"It looks like carnage on the Titanic," one member muttered as Sky News' election broadcast illustrated the scale of the Liberals losses.

But there was no apparent anger, nor tears being shed publicly inside the ritzy Fullerton Hotel.

Just before 11pm, the prime minister took to the stage to concede defeat, flanked by wife Jenny and daughters Abbey and Lily.

"To my colleagues tonight, who have had to deal with very difficult news and have lost their seats tonight," he said.

"I as leader take responsibility for the wins and the losses."

There were some wins. Bridget Archer held on in Bass, and Andrew Constance might win in the NSW south-coast seat of Gilmore. The NT seat of Lingiari is on a knife-edge.

But those gains were far outweighed by losses which have immediately reshaped the party, and possibly changed it forever.

The Liberals' moderate faction has been decimated and the party has surrendered some of its most treasured seats.

The Liberal faithful watched in stunned silence as one-by-one their MPs appeared on the big screens to all but concede defeat, victims of the wave of "teal" independents which swept through Sydney and Melbourne.

First it was Trent Zimmerman in North Sydney, then it was Dave Sharma's turn to accept defeat in Wentworth.

Then came Josh Frydenberg, a man touted as a future prime minister whose career in politics is now all but over.

Mr Morrison pinned the Coalition's hopes on the outer suburbs, a strategy which backfired spectacularly in the cities.

Katie Allen is set to lose Higgins, so too Trevor Evans in Brisbane. The Perth-based seat of Swan has turned red.

The day began very differently.

"I hope we get miracle 2.0," a man shouted as Mr Morrison moved through throng of cameras, journalists and onlookers who had converged on the basketball courts at Lilli Pilli Public School.

Mr Morrison might be an unpopular figure in many parts of the country. He's admitted as much during the federal election campaign.

But not in Sydney's Sutherland Shire, where voters were hoping their local MP could repeat his against-the-odds election victory in 2019 with another surprise win.

After six weeks of campaigning across the continent, which ended with a last-minute dash to Victoria, Mr Morrison returned to his home seat of Cook in Sydney to end his campaign.

Local junior soccer players, perched over the school's front fence, jumped up and down and chanted "ScoMo, ScoMo, ScoMo" as he walked through the gate and into the communal hall to fill out his ballot.

"Well, there's nothing like coming home and there's nothing like coming home here to the shire," he told reporters who stood among members of the public for what could be Mr Morrison's final press conference as prime minister.

"I love this community. This community has given me so many opportunities, and our family, so many opportunities."

The sentimentality and self reflection ended there.

"This election has never been about me or my feelings or anything like that," Mr Morrison replied when asked how he was feeling about the night ahead.

He wouldn't be drawn on questions of legacy and didn't respond when asked if he'd quit politics if trumped by Anthony Albanese on Saturday night.

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But Mr Morrison made it clear he wouldn't be going quietly, dropping an election-day bomb by confirming a boat trying to illegally enter Australia had been intercepted.

The man who as Immigration Minister infamously never spoke of "on-water matters" was now speaking about "on-water matters" as he clung to his prime ministership.

Within minutes, Defence Minister Peter Dutton had tweeted: "People smugglers have obviously decided who is going to win the election and the boats have already started."

Shortly after, the mobile phones of marginal seat voters started pinging with a message from the NSW Liberals, alerting them to the boat interception and urging them to vote for the Morrison government.

The announcement and the message blitz has been cast as cynical plot by a desperate government staring down imminent defeat.

Mr Morrison insists he's doing his job. He received a warm round of applause as he abruptly ended his press conference on Saturday.

He is a popular man in Cook, a seat he comfortably retained on Saturday night.

It didn't matter.

Scott Morrison's more than three years as prime minister - a term which saw fires, floods, a pandemic and cultural reckoning with women - is over.