Enrolling, early voting: everything you need to know before the election

Voting is compulsory, so that gives adult citizens five weeks to update their enrolment, work out how and where to vote - and decide who to back.

ACM, the publisher of this masthead, has pulled together everything you need to know to do your civic duty.

Postal vote applications have opened and can be lodged via the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) website.

They close at 6pm on April 30.

"[It's] important for anyone needing to apply for a postal vote to do so sooner rather than later," an AEC spokesperson said.

"If you leave it to the last minute we will do our best but can't guarantee delivery."

The deadline to enrol to vote in this federal election is Monday, April 7 at 8pm.

People standing for election as candidates will need to get their nominations in by midday on April 10, while the election writ is set to be formally issued by the Governor-General on March 31.

Candidates will be announced on April 11.

Pre-polling at local booths for those working, travelling, or who for other good reasons can't vote on election day, will open on April 22 in most states.

Pre-poll centres will be closed for ANZAC Day on April 25.

You can check your enrolment details here.

If you have moved since you last voted - and have lived at your new address for at least a month - you will need to let the AEC know.

You can update your details here.

Australians living overseas, or who will be overseas on May 3, should check their options here.

Every Australian citizen aged 18 and over must vote in the election, but people aged 16 and 17 can also enrol and wait until their 18^th birthday to vote.

To enrol you will need one of the below:

You can start the process here, but there are also ways to enrol using a paper form and lodging it with an AEC office.