UPDATE Thursday 8am: With 87.5 per cent of the vote now counted, Liberal candidate Sarah Richards has marginally increased her lead over incumbent Susan Templeman to nearly 200 votes.
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The end of the fifth day of counting in the 2019 federal election yesterday (Wednesday) saw Ms Richards poll 45,500 two party preferred votes versus Labor's Ms Templeman on 45,304, according to the latest figures from the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC).
UPDATE Wednesday 8am: Liberal candidate for Macquarie, Sarah Richards, has a lead of 151 votes with 87.09% counted.
Tuesday: Counting is due to resume this afternoon [Tuesday] for the seat of Macquarie, as Liberal candidate Sarah Richards holds a slim 50-vote lead.
Figures from the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) published at 7.20pm on Monday showed Ms Richards holding 50.03 per cent of the vote in the seat after preferences compared to Labor incumbent Susan Templeman with 49.97 per cent.
There are still nearly 4,000 absentee votes to be counted by the AEC, and counting for Macquarie is due to resume at 3pm today (Tuesday).
In a statement released late yesterday, the AEC said it was prioritising close seat counts and would provide results "as swiftly as possible, but lawfully.
"Postal counts continue in the closest seats of Bass (Tas), Chisholm and Macquarie, and a number of other seats today," Monday's statement said.
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"On Tuesday, as more postal votes are returned via Australia Post to the AEC, counting of postal votes will be underway in all 151 House of Representatives seats, as part of our planned count program.
"The AEC waits 13 days after election day, by law, until the cut-off for any postal votes (31 May)."
A total of 86.63 per cent of the Macquarie vote had been counted by the AEC last night.
