Key elements of the Coalition plan include large cuts to foreign aid to fund infrastructure spending in Australia and a boost of A$6 billion ($6.97 billion) to the budget's bottom line.
So what stood out in the campaign right at the end?
1. The undecided vote
Rudd has been counting on a large pool of undecided voters to save Labor as polls predicted a massive swing to the Coalition that would give Abbott an outright majority in the House of Representatives.
His estimate that 15 per cent had not made up their minds as the end of the campaign neared was widely dismissed by political analysts, who believed most Australians had been locked into their vote for weeks.
Yesterday, the ABC's Vote Compass, a survey testing the policy positions of more than 1.1 million Australians, found 14 per cent still were not sure who to support. Applied nationally, that represents about 2 million voters.
Most of the undecided were women and the young, who other polls have shown mostly support Labor.
Vote Compass said 37 per cent of undecided voters in its survey were leaning towards Labor, 27 per cent to the Opposition, and 17 per cent to the Greens.
Both Abbott and Rudd have said they disbelieved mainstream polling and that the election would be far tighter than polls suggested, similar to analysis of American polling after last year's presidential election.
2. Rudd's last stand
In his final campaign speech, Rudd invoked Labor's reforming history while warning that the Opposition was trying to drive the nation back to a "mythical, imaginary" past - a "cocktail of the 1950s, Upstairs Downstairs and Downton Abbey all wrapped together where everyone knew their station in life".
"I genuinely fear for what the Liberals would do in office," he said. "I don't want an Australia that is divided into winners and losers. I don't want an Australia that is wrapped in dispute and division and thrown into a new culture of confrontation."
Rudd attacked Abbott's decision to hold his campaign costs back until the advertising blackout took effect on Wednesday night, saying it was extraordinary he had given voters less than 48 hours to examine them.
Rudd said this was a deliberate ploy to evade scrutiny of "massive cuts" planned for education, health and other programmes.
3. Abbott's economic blueprint
Abbott rejected Rudd's claims, saying that climate change and broadband policies left out of the costings were already well known and "bulletproof".
"No Opposition in our history has been as thorough and as prudent in respect of its costings and its policies than this Opposition," he said.
Shadow Treasurer Joe Hockey said the Coalition was putting in place the tools needed to grow the economy and provide job security, improving the budget outlook by A$6.3 billion and reducing government debt of A$16 billion.
Savings of A$31 billion had previously been released. Yesterday's announcement added another A$9 billion, about A$4.5 billion of which would be provided by cutting foreign aid to help fund roads, rail freight and bridging programmes.
"Australia can best provide sustainable assistance overseas when our economy is strong and the budget is in a sustainable surplus," the finance spokesman said.
Other savings would come from axing the A$2.4 billion regional infrastructure fund financed by the mining tax - also to be repealed if Abbott wins - and a range of other measures.
4. Attack ads failed
Labor advertising attacking Abbott in a bid to present a hidden slash-and-burn Coalition agenda, in the hope of scaring voters back to Labor, has instead turned many people off. Abbott's similar tactics have also failed.
A Morgan Research survey of voters' reactions to campaign advertising has found that Labor's "If Abbott wins, you lose" ads fared worst, followed by the Coalition's "Carbon tax lie".
In contrast, the most well-received ads were positive, led by the Liberals' "New Hope" campaign, ahead of upbeat ads by the Greens and Labor.
