Halfway through his short announcement, he stopped, hung his head, bit his lip, and appeared to be in tears.

As he claimed victory, Mr Hawke promised that his Government would be a government for all Australians irrespective of how they voted.

"From this moment I commit our Government to undertaking the task of national reconciliation," he said.

"I ask you all now to give us your trust, your confidence and your co-operation."

When told that Labor supporters all over the country were popping champagne corks, Mr Hawke was asked if just this once he would have a victory drink. "Yes," he quipped, "I will be having a double dash of lime in my mineral water."

The new leader of the Liberal Party is expected to be Andrew Peacock or John Howard. But early today neither would commit himself to standing.

The swing against the Government occurred in all the mainland States and Labor even has a chance of winning the Northern Territory seat from the National Party.

It seems certain to win 6 seats in NSW, 6 in Victoria, one in South Australia, 4 and possibly 5 in Queensland, 4 in Western Australia and possibly the Northern Territory.

At one stage during the counting, the Labor Party's surge to power stalled with eight seats won of the 11 needed and it looked as if the election would be close.

But it was then able to claim victory in the NSW seat of Macarthur and the Victorian seat of Flinders.

When Queensland came in with three probable wins to Labor, Mr Hawke was over the line.

As Mr Hawke arrived in the national tally room, the atmosphere was hysterical. He arrived at 12.30 am, three hours later than anticipated.

When he stepped from the lift of the Lakeside International at 11.55 pm the crowd which had waited so long for him to appear went wild.

Flower bowls were knocked over, his wife, Hazel, was engulfed by half a dozen women, someone thrust a boquet of flowers at the new Prime Minister and a roar went up: "Good on you, Prime Minister."

All night press and public had ebbed and flowed across the turquoise carpet as the cry went up: "He's coming down."

The crowd would surge around the lifts and then fall back disappointed.

There were extraordinary scenes at Mr Fraser's hotel where he and his mother, Mrs Una Fraser, his wife Tamie and his daughter Phoebe suffered the biggest crisis the family has faced since he took office seven years three months ago.

Four Federal Ministers appear to have been steamrolled by the Hawke bandwagon and a fifth is expected to be pushed to preferences to retain his seat.

With a 13.3 swing against him the Minister for Defence Support, Mr Viner, seems certain of defeat in WA.

In Queensland with 79.3 per cent of the votes counted the Federal Immigration Minister, Mr John Hodges, was 2000 behind his Labor opponent.

In Victoria the swing towards the ALP could unseat Federal Communications Minister Mr Neil Brown, who is trailing his opponent by more than 1000 votes during late counting with a 6.2 per cent swing against him.

Labor is also confident of picking up the Queensland seat of Leichhardt, currently held by the Minister for Science and Technology Mr Thompson who was trailing his opponent last night by more than 2000 votes with Labor recording a 5.9 per cent swing in the seat.

The Special Minister of State, Mr Jim Killen. whose seat of Moreton clinched victory for the Menzies Government in 1961 was a handful of votes in front of his ALP opponent late last night and would need Democrat preferences to win.

The result in Flinders was a litmus test of Mr Hawke 's leadership.

In December last year, the Labor Party lost a byelection in Flinders under Mr Hayden's leadership.

But with a new candidate in the seat and under Mr Hawke's leadership, the Labor candidate went to an early lead and stayed ahead all night.

For the Liberal candidate, Mr Peter Reith, it ended one of the shortest careers in the history of Federal politics. He did not have time to take his seat in Parliament.

The Labor Party made good gains in NSW and early in the evening was able to claim victory in the Sydney marginal seats of Phillip and Barton.

The Labor Party also went very close in the seat of Cook but the sitting Liberal, Mr Don Dobie, is expected to hold his seat on preferences.

Labor also won the central-western seat of Calare, held previously for the National Party by Mr Sandy MacKenzie.

In the far-flung seat of Riverina, the Labor Party claimed victory although on early counting the National Party member, Mr Noel Hicks seemed well ahead.

But Labor Party officials had reports from scrutineers that the strong Labor vote in Broken Hill had not been counted.

When it was the Labor candidate Mr Adams surged ahead.