That's a wrap, folks - but only for today! Thank you for joining us for our special election night coverage. 

Join us bright and early tomorrow morning for the latest updates on the election.

OPINION

Labour came crashing down and every other party went up. Voters from all points on the political spectrum said, “Enough.” What’s Labour going to learn from this?

First up, the big one: It’s not enough to be fit for war, you also have to be fit for the peace. It’s the same thing they said about Winston Churchill, all those years ago.

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After more than three hours, National leader Christopher Luxon and other high-ranking party members have emerged from his home in Auckland after a long strategy meeting.

Luxon, set to become the next Prime Minister, said he would be travelling to Wellington tomorrow afternoon and would be welcoming the party's new MPs to Parliament as they began their induction process.

Luxon said the purpose of today's meeting was to "digest the election results" and think about next steps.

He remained tight-lipped on what had been decided, not answering whether the party had firmed up when it might conduct talks with members of the Act Party or NZ First.

"I said we won't do it through the media, we'll do it directly with the parties involved out of respect to them."

He also did not confirm or deny whether he had spoken to NZ First leader Winston Peters today.

With more than 500,000 special votes yet to be counted, Luxon did not indicate whether it was his preference to not advance the formation of the next government until those votes were in. He did accept it would make things more complex if that process began before the votes were counted.

"There's a bit of volatility sitting there but we'll carry on working with the parties directly.

"We know that the result is going to bounce around a little bit and that's the thing that we need to see how that's going to button down."

He echoed comments made by his campaign chair Chris Bishop earlier this morning that it was "quite possible" National would lose a seat after the special votes were counted, increasing the likelihood NZ First could be required to form a government.

While he was reluctant to share details of his conversations with New Zealand politicians, Luxon said he'd had a good talk with Australian PM Anthony Albanese earlier today.

Luxon said Albanese congratulated him on the election results and reaffirmed that he wanted to work "really closely together".

They also spoke about upcoming events for world leaders, including the Pacific Islands Forum and the APEC Economic Leaders' Week next month.

With the Pacific Islands Forum starting on November 6 in Rarotonga, Luxon said it was his intention to attend but acknowledged it could be compromised by how negotiations panned out.

"We'd like to try and do that but again, it's a little bit contingent upon how the next few weeks play out."

Act party leader David Seymour says last night’s election was a record result for his party, but Kiwis now have high expectations for change.

In a media stand-up today, Seymour said he feels the party has been given an enormous responsibility which they intend to deliver on.

“This country voted for change because it faces some real challenges and our job is to help this country overcome those challenges over the next few years,” he said.

The Act Party received 9 per cent of the preliminary party votes and won two electorates, giving them a total of 11 seats so far. Special votes are yet to be counted.

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National will still need the support of New Zealand First to achieve a working majority in Government, according to Westpac’s chief economist Kelly Eckhold.

Election night results indicated National and Act will have 61 seats in Parliament between them, but this could drop by one or two seats once the special votes were known on November 3.

Eckhold said it seemed likely the next Parliament would have 122 seats - 121 from the general election and a further seat likely following the Port Waikato by-election on November 25 - which meant National and Act would not have a majority.

“Hence the support of the NZ First Party will likely be needed to achieve a working majority.”

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When asked whether there is change of generation going on from older established to younger Māori politicians, Ferris said a lot of the investment in Māori education and reclaiming Māori spaces has hit the ground.

"Our young people are educated and are aware of why and how inequities exist, and one of the jobs of Te Pāti Māori is to continue to raise that up, educate our people so they can stand up and move together."

Newly elected Te Pāti Māori MP Tākuta Ferris told TVNZ's Q&A waking up knowing you're going to be an MP doesn't feel that much different.

"We're used to building into our people and we're just going to do it in a different place."

He said one of the things that got him over the lines was being on the ground across the South Island.

"That and a strong social campaign off the back of Rawiri Waititi and Debbie Ngarewa-Packer's work over the past few years in parliament."

"One thing that can be taken away from this campaign is that Māori people are up, on their feet and making their intention heard."

The losses have led to questions about the future of Chris Hipkins as the Labour leader.

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