Almost a quarter of those likely to vote in this year's election have already done so through advance voting -- a turnout that is likely to force a rethink of electoral advertising rules.
The Electoral Commission this afternoon confirmed a total of 557,174 advance votes had been cast so far. Assuming a similar turnout this election to that in 2011, that works out to just over 24 per cent of the total vote.
The figure has already easily topped the 334,558 advance votes, or 15 per cent of the total, cast in 2011, which was the first election held under rules that meant anybody could advance vote.
This election, most political parties have heavily targeted advance voters.
Laila Harre, who led the union-sponsored Get out and Vote campaign before becoming Internet Party Leader this year, said she was "very, very happy to see the massive increase".