A Labor majority is becoming increasingly likely as the prime minister declares he’s in for the long haul, but a vast number of voters remain undecided.

Recent polls show Labor gaining momentum, widening the two-party preferred gap and putting majority government in reach as the coalition campaign falters.

Labor is ahead 54.5 to 45.5 per cent according to Roy Morgan polling and 53.5 per cent to 46.5 per cent in a separate Resolve poll published by the Nine newspapers.

Anthony Albanese insisted his team were not getting ahead of themselves with the May 3 election set to come down to the wire.

“We’ve got a mountain to climb,” he told ABC TV on Tuesday.

“It’s about halfway in the campaign today, it’s tough to win elections, that’s why no prime minister has been re-elected after serving a full term since 2004.”

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton squarely positioned himself as the underdog.

“The prime minister’s already talking about a third term,” Mr Dutton said in reference to comments Mr Albanese made to The Nightly about serving a full second term and seeking a third following questions about his political future.

But it wasn’t too late to turn dire polls around with some 40 per cent of Australians remaining undecided, former Scott Morrison media chief turned consultant Andrew Carswell said.

“It’s gigantic, the biggest I’ve ever seen in an election context,” he told AAP.

“Everything that we see on the ground in those key electorates, people want to be convinced, they haven’t closed themselves to the coalition like they may have done in previous elections.

“They’re there to be convinced and what will convince them is the coalition hitting that economic message every single day of the last three weeks.”

The third week of the campaign has so far been centred on housing and cost of living, with each party unveiling policies to target first homebuyers and tax relief, targeting younger and outer suburban voters doing it tough.

Labor will help people get into the market by allowing them to secure a mortgage with only a five per cent deposit, with the government guaranteeing the extra 15 per cent.

The coalition is offering tax-deductible mortgage payments for new builds.

Neither are popular with economists, who argue the policies will only boost demand and drive up housing prices as supply fails to keep up.

Greens MP Max Chandler-Mather, who is facing a battle to retain his Brisbane-based seat of Griffith, chastised the major parties for pushing ahead despite economists’ concerns.

“It’s a house fire and it’s burning the dreams of a lot of renters and first home buyers,” he said.

“What we hope is that we can get into minority parliament, keep Dutton out and push Labor to finally consider changes to negative gearing and the capital gains tax discount.”

Labor has ruled out changes to negative gearing or capital gains.

Labor’s policy to introduce a $1000 instant tax deduction has also received a mixed reception, with the nation’s leading accounting body saying the instant deduction could save workers time, but might mean they miss out on the full refund they are entitled to.

“Taxpayers should be encouraged to take greater responsibility for their finances and tax obligations,” CPA Australia’s tax lead Jenny Wong said.

“Clicking a few buttons to get a basic deduction may be easy, but it is unlikely to be in the best interests of taxpayers or the economy.”

But George Washington University economics professor Steven Hamilton said Labor’s proposal would save the tax office and people money, in addition to moving to a system where no one has to itemise.

Source: AAP