He later repeatedly rammed a police vehicle with the car he had stolen.

Emergency services respond to vessel fire off Coromandel coast; one person rescued.

With the federal election just around the corner, Anthony Albanese's Labor government currently holds 78 seats in the House of Representatives, while the Coalition has 55 and 16 are in the hands of the minor parties and independents.

Many of those, though, sit on a knife's edge. Of the 150 electorates that will be contested on May 3, the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) lists 51 as being marginal – that is, currently held on a margin of less than 6 per cent.

These are the 10 closest ones, which will be crucial in deciding who forms government in a matter of days.

READ MORE: The election promises Labor and the Coalition have made to win your vote

Keep in mind these margins reflect how people voted in 2022, and take into account the redistribution (new boundaries) of seats.

They're not representative of current polls, or how people are necessarily going to vote this year, but more an indicator of the seats that, theoretically, have the most potential to change hands.

READ MORE: Here's how you can vote before May 3

Deakin (Victoria)

Currently held by: Liberal Party, Michael Sukkar
Margin: 0.02 per cent

Michael Sukkar holds a handful of shadow portfolios on the Coalition front bench, but he also has the unenviable task of holding the closest seat in the nation.

He won Deakin in 2022 by just 375 votes, despite a 4.5 per cent swing to Labor, and his margin has narrowed even further to 0.02 per cent thanks to the redistribution of the seat.

Lawyer Matt Gregg, who almost won the seat off Sukkar in 2022, has been chosen by Labor to contest it again this year.

Bennelong (NSW)

Currently held by: Labor Party, Jerome Laxale
Margin: 0.04 per cent (notionally Liberal)

Bennelong has long been a Liberal stronghold, having been held by the party for all but six years since 1949, including for more than three decades by former prime minister John Howard.

Jerome Laxale was just the second Labor MP ever to win the seat, following in the footsteps of Maxine McKew, but faces a challenge to retain it.

While he won by just under 1 per cent in 2022, the abolition of North Sydney has significantly changed Bennelong's boundaries, meaning it's notionally a Liberal seat, albeit on a paltry 0.04 per cent margin.

Scott Yung won preselection to be the Liberal candidate for the seat this year.

READ MORE: How to apply for and submit a postal vote this election

Gilmore (NSW)

Currently held by: Labor Party, Fiona Phillips
Margin: 0.17 per cent

Gilmore was the tightest race in the entire 2022 election, when Fiona Phillips retained the NSW South Coast seat with just 373 more votes than Liberal Andrew Constance.

Constance, a former NSW state minister who gained a particularly high profile in the region for his response to the Black Summer bushfires, will contest the electorate once again.

Menzies (Victoria)

Currently held by: Liberal Party, Keith Wolahan
Margin: 0.42 per cent (notionally Labor)

This was another close contest in 2022, when Keith Wolahan pipped Labor's Naomi Oakley.

Redistribution has made Menzies even more winnable for the government, with the Victorian seat now listed as notionally Labor by the AEC.

Lawyer and former public servant Gabriel Ng has been named to contest the seat for Labor.

READ MORE: 'Dismal' housing plans by Labor and Coalition risk skyrocketing debt, says expert

Sturt (South Australia)

Currently held by: Liberal Party, James Stevens
Margin: 0.45 per cent

James Stevens won this once-safe Liberal seat by a razor-thin margin in 2022. While it has been held by the Coalition since 1972, only 1016 votes stood between Stevens and Labor's Sonja Baram.

This time, local councillor and lawyer Claire Clutterham has been chosen to contest the seat for the ALP.

EXPLAINED: How Australia's preferential voting system works

Wentworth (NSW)

Currently held by: Independent, Allegra Spender
Margin: 0.58 per cent

Wentworth is a bit of an odd addition to this list, all things considered. Teal independent Allegra Spender won it quite comfortably in 2022, with a 4.2 per cent margin.

Calculating that margin after redistribution is tricky because its neighbouring seats – Kingsford-Smith and Sydney – didn't have a leading independent candidate at the last election.

That's why there's a big disparity in estimates of what Spender's margin actually is.

While the AEC has it down to just 0.58 per cent, leading election analysts Ben Raue, William Bowe and Antony Green believe it has actually grown to between 5.8 and 9 per cent – so listing it as one of the most marginal seats is probably a bit of a misnomer.

That said, the Liberals still consider themselves a genuine chance of winning it back. Ro Knox is the party's candidate.

READ MORE: Investigation into 50,000 illegal pamphlets targeting independent MP

Moore (Western Australia)

Currently held by: Liberal Party, Ian Goodenough
Margin: 0.91 per cent

Moore was a rare piece of good news for the Liberals in 2022 – it was the only seat in metropolitan Perth that the party won.

Now, it's looming as a headache for the Coalition, and not just because of the sub-1 per cent margin.

Sitting MP Ian Goodenough lost his preselection bid to recontest the seat for the Liberals, with former federal MP Vince Connelly instead being picked by the party.

But Goodenough has committed to run as an independent, and has flagged directing preferences to Labor ahead of Connelly, potentially denting the Coalition's chances of retaining the crucial Western Australian seat.

Labor's candidate is electrician and lawyer Tom French.

READ MORE: Where Albanese and Dutton have been on the campaign trail

Lyons (Tasmania)

Currently held by: Labor Party, Brian Mitchell
Margin: 0.92 per cent

Brian Mitchell has held Tasmania's largest electorate for three terms for Labor, but is standing aside this year to allow former state opposition leader Rebecca White, considered something of a rising star in the party, to contest Lyons.

Susie Bower, who lost to Mitchell by just 1344 votes in 2022, will once again be the Liberal candidate.

READ MORE: The severe penalties for anyone caught voting twice

Canning (Western Australia)

Currently held by: Liberal Party, Andrew Hastie
Margin: 1.2 per cent

Western Australia is looming as a key battleground in this year's election, and Canning is the seat with the second-tightest margin in the state, sitting at 1.2 per cent.

That's due largely to redistribution – Coalition frontbencher Andrew Hastie won it with a more comfortable 3.59 per cent margin in 2022, and it would be a surprise if one of the opposition's more prominent frontbenchers (Hastie is the shadow defence minister) lost his seat.

Prosecutor Jarrad Goold is Labor's candidate.

READ MORE: Young voters eyeing these five key issues

Curtin (Western Australia)

Currently held by: Independent, Kate Chaney
Margin: 1.32 per cent

Of all the seats the teal independents won off the Liberal Party in 2022, Curtin is considered the most likely to fall back to the Coalition this time around.

Kate Chaney won the blue ribbon electorate – which is home to some of Perth's (and Australia's) wealthiest citizens, including Gina Rinehart and Andrew Forrest – in a major upset in the last election.

It's a little odd to see the Chaney name running against the Liberals, given her family's history. Uncle Fred was a minister in Malcolm Fraser's government, and grandfather Sir Frederick was the navy minister under Robert Menzies before later becoming Perth lord mayor.

However, the Liberal Party is confident of painting Curtin blue once again. It has picked former Uber executive Tom White – who was working in South Korea during the last election – to contest the seat. 

Note: This article originally included the Northern Territory seat of Lingiari as one of the closest in the country. However, following redistribution (which was finalised later in the NT than in other states and territories), the AEC has slightly increased Labor's margin in the seat from 0.95 to 1.6 per cent, making it the 13th-closest seat. 

DOWNLOAD THE 9NEWS APP: Stay across all the latest in breaking news, sport, politics and the weather via our news app and get notifications sent straight to your smartphone. Available on the Apple App Store and Google Play.

The coronial inquest resumed in Christchurch after being adjourned from 2024.

The NZTA Board has endorsed the Tauriko West Road investment case in the Bay of Plenty.

A long-time friend said they are ‘extremely broken’.

The Serious Crash Unit are conducting a scene examination, Police said.

Brown admitted the offence and apologised for the error of judgement.

Some lucky Australians witnessed a meteor shower lighting up skies across the country's east last night.

Parts of south-east Queensland and regional New South Wales were treated to a spectacular display during the annual Lyrid meteor shower.

The annual celestial event peaked yesterday on April 21 and the meteorites made an astonishing appearance right on time – with some describing them as green and blue flashes in the sky.

LIVE UPDATES: Pope Francis dies aged 88

Shocked drivers captured the meteors quickly streaking across the sky on dashcam footage, while others were poised ready to film it with professional cameras.

Several witnesses also reported their homes shaking and hearing large booms during the astronomical shower.

One person took to social media to claim their sister's home in Tenterfield in regional NSW "shook" as the meteors travelled through the horizon.

READ MORE: Man charged over Bruce Highway crash death, shooting

"My wife saw a massive flash, thought it was lighting," another said.

A few of the clearest displays were also captured in Bundaberg in Queensland and Glen Innes in regional NSW.

The Lyrid meteor shower was fuelled by debris from Comet Thatcher's trail, making it an especially bright display.

As our planet passed through this trail, small particles from the comet disintegrated upon entering the Earth's atmosphere at up to 47km/s.

READ MORE: The top five issues affecting young voters at this year's federal election

The Lyrids occur annually in mid-to-late April, typically becoming active around April 17 to April 26.

In Australia, the peak viewing time is usually April 21 to April 22, with anywhere between 10 to 20 meteors per hour.

DOWNLOAD THE 9NEWS APP: Stay across all the latest in breaking news, sport, politics and the weather via our news app and get notifications sent straight to your smartphone. Available on the Apple App Store and Google Play.

The FAA is investigating after an engine fire resulted in passengers on a Delta Air Lines flight evacuating down emergency slides onto the tarmac at Orlando International Airport this morning (local time).

The completely full Airbus A330 plane had just departed its gate to fly to Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport when a fire was reported in one of the two engines, according to statements from the Federal Aviation Administration and Delta Air Lines.

A large ball of orange flames was seen coming out of the right engine on cell phone video captured by Dylan Wallace, a passenger in the terminal.

LIVE UPDATES: Pope Francis dies aged 88

"We are calling the fire trucks right now, we see that," a controller noted on audio recorded by the website Broadcastify.

Emergency responders were then cleared to go to the plane.

After earlier saying there were 200 passengers on board, the airline updated the count to 282 in a statement.

READ MORE: Police try to identify man in decade-old armed robbery CCTV

"Delta flight crews followed procedures to evacuate the passenger cabin when flames in the tailpipe of one of the aircraft's two engines were observed," the airline said.

No passengers were reported injured.

"We appreciate our customers' cooperation and apologize for the experience. Nothing is more important than safety and Delta teams will work to get our customers to their final destinations as soon as possible," the airline said.