People in the Northern Territory will be the first to vote in a major Australian government election amid the coronavirus pandemic, with the current Labor government promising to save lives and jobs.
"This is literally the difference between life and death," NT Chief Minister and Labor leader Michael Gunner said last week.
"You get to choose who is in charge of this [COVID-19] crisis and I'm asking people to back me.
"This is the biggest issue in the world, the biggest issue concerning Australia and the biggest issue gripping the Northern Territory."
How has COVID-19 impacted Labor's campaign?
Early voting centres opened last week with more than 28 per cent of registered voters casting their ballots by the end of the weekend.
It took the overall number of votes cast to more than 40,000, according to the Northern Territory Electoral Commission (NTEC).
Fannie Bay candidate Mr Gunner broke from tradition by casting his ballot early and outside his electorate at a centre in Palmerston last Monday.
Incumbent Chief Minister Michael Gunner assumed office in 2016. Source: AAP
"We've queued one-and-a-half metres apart and been given hand sanitiser to use before voting," he said after voting. "Make sure you vote and make sure you vote safe."
Apart from omnipresent bottles of hand sanitiser at polling booths and the request to socially distance, COVID-19 has also been the primary focus of the incumbent Labor government's 2020 campaign.
There are currently no active cases in the Northern Territory, 34 people have recovered, more than 30,000 tests have been carried out and there has been no community transmission.
Mr Gunner called for people to "cancel their Christmas plans", touting "hard borders" for the next 18 months despite the Territory being open to all other states except Victoria and the Greater Sydney region in New South Wales.
Who else is contending the election?
The Country Liberal Party (CLP) - affiliated with the federal Liberal Party - is the official opposition, alongside Territory Alliance.
Territory Alliance was created in August 2019 by former CLP Chief Minister Terry Mills.
After resigning from parliament in 2014, Mr Mills won back his former seat of Blain in 2016 and has since recruited Robyn Lambley (formerly CLP) and Jeff Collins (formerly Labor).
In March, the Alliance sought to become the official opposition because they held three seats, as opposed to CLP's two, but were overruled by a last-minute motion moved by the CLP at the NT Legislative Assembly.
Territory Alliance was created in August 2019 by former CLP Chief Minister Terry Mills. Source: AAP
The CLP, led by 35-year-old Lia Finocchiaro, won the vote five to three and managed to maintain its opposition status.
A total of 111 candidates have been nominated to contest this week's election, with all 25 districts contested by Labor, 24 by the CLP and 21 by Territory Alliance.
Independents are contesting 23 districts, while the Greens have 10 candidates.
Where do the challenging parties stand on COVID-19?
Over the past week, repeated attacks of "scaremongering" and "politicising" the pandemic have been directed towards the Labor leader by opposing parties.
"This is not a tool to win an election. He's desperately trying to save his job by scaring Territorians," said CLP leader Ms Finocchiaro.
"If the pressure of this election is getting to him, he needs to hand over responsibility for all COVID announcements to the NT Chief Health Officer so that Territorians can get the actual facts."
Territory Alliance leader Mr Mills said inconsistencies in border policy need to be addressed.
The CLP is led by 35-year-old Lia Finocchiaro. Source: Facebook/Lia Finocchiaro
"Step up and close the borders with NSW so we have clarity," he said.
"Sadly we're now seeing clusters occur in New Zealand, a pandemic crushing Victorians, and clusters across New South Wales.
"All it takes is one person to spark a community transmission cluster, so we need to support our domestic tourism with borders open to safe states and stay vigilant with swift action to close to states with clusters of community transmission."
What are the other issues that matter?
The Northern Territory government postponed its budget until after the election, explaining that there would be uncertainties related to COVID-19.
Instead, a budget update released in July projected the territory's net debt will surge to $8.2 billion by July next year.
All three leaders have thrown their support behind growing the tourism, mining and agriculture sectors thus far to help boost the economy.
Meanwhile, bipartisan support to reach zero carbon emissions by 2050 is hoped to remain in place following the election.
In June, Territory Alliance also announced it would oppose fracking in the Northern Territory, a policy shift which could swing green votes in their favour, according to the ABC's chief election analyst Antony Green.
Don't Frack the NT Rally, calling on Michael Gunner to put a permanent ban on fracking in the NT. Source: Facebook
Last week, there were also concerns for the 'remote vote' after day three of early voting.
The NTEC visited 51 remote communities across the Territory with a combined 3,801 people on the electoral roll, but only 1,856 cast their votes during remote voting.
While voters will be weighing up a number of issues ahead of the election Mr Gunner said the COVID-19 pandemic would be at the forefront of voters' minds.
More than 40,000 votes have already been cast. Source: Aneeta Bhole
"This is a once in a century crisis," he said. "Sometimes you choose the campaign, sometimes the campaign chooses you.
"This is simply the biggest issue in the world right now."
Territorians will enter polling booths on Saturday 22 August to determine who will lead them for the next four years.
