When all's said and done, after all the millions of words spoken and written by the candidates and commentators in advance of the Australian general election on Saturday, it's crunch time.

As far as I'm concerned, some bloke named Tom Bellgard from Cooma has most succinctly summed up the situation in his letter to the editor of the Sydney Morning Herald five days ahead of the vote: "Governments are like socks and underwear - they should be changed frequently or they begin to smell."

And judging by the results of pre-election polls and the opinions of most professional pundits, enough of Bellgard's fellow-citizens agree that it's time for a change of Down-Underwear.