Just six days out from the federal election, Anthony Albanese and Peter Dutton are meeting in their fourth and final leaders debate.

While Albanese is ahead in the polls and holding out hope of forming a majority Labor government, the debate offers Dutton a chance to make ground in the final week.

However, with a huge number of people having already cast their votes, it remains to be seen how much tonight can actually impact the outcome.

The debate, which was hosted by Channel 7, became personal early as Dutton accused Albanese of lying and claimed he should be “ashamed” of the problems arising over the past three years.

Albanese hit back that Dutton could attack him but he wouldn’t let him “attack the wages of working people” in a debate that has touched on cost of living, tax and housing.

Dutton went straight in on the economy in his opening statement.

“This election is all about who can best manage the Australian economy, and if we can manage the economy, well, it means that we can bring inflation down. It means that we can help families with the cost-of-living crisis that this government’s created,” he said.

“We live in the best country in the world, but we do know that many families are doing it tough, and as we’ve moved around the country, we’ve spoken to families literally in tears.”

Albanese also focussed on cost-of-living.

“Australians have a real choice this Saturday to continue building Australia’s future or go back to the past,” he said.

“We know that we live in very uncertain times, and that’s why we need certainty. And during this campaign, we have put forward clear, decisive policies – the opposition have chopped and changed. Australians deserve certainty. What we will deliver is just that we will trust in our people. We will value our Australian values, and we’ll build Australia’s future.”

On cost of living, Albanese plugged his party’s pledges to cut prices on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme and childcare.

He argued inflation had dropped from 6 per cent to 2.4 per cent under his watch and interest rates, which were cut for the first time in years in March, had started to come down.

Dutton went straight to the Coalition’s promised cut to fuel excise, which Albanese criticised as a temporary measure.

Dutton draw an analogy to the temporary relief offered during the COVID-19 pandemic, claiming it would “give us time to clean up Labor’s mess”.

Both parties have introduced significant policies to address the housing crisis but economists have raised questions about their potential effectiveness.

Dutton sought to blame rising house prices squarely on migration, claiming Labor had mismanaged “every aspect of the migration program”.

“It looks like a nightmare,”Dutton said, when asked about the great Australian dream.

“And it’s a nightmare because rents have gone up by almost 20 per cent, and this Prime Minister has brought in a million people over the course of the last two years through the migration program.”

Albanese said his government was not just looking to identify the problem but working towards a solution.

“That’s why our measures, whether it be increased private rentals through our incentive for build-to-rent programs or first home buyers scheme or whether it be the increased support for social housing, we are concentrating on supply, not just demand, because we know that’s the key going forward,” he said.