Peter Dutton is no stranger to battling hard for his seat but nothing could have prepared him for this horror night.
He’s also facing a fierce battle for his seat of Dickson, in the north-western suburbs of Brisbane.
The opposition leader currently holds Dickson by a wafer-thin margin of 1.7 per cent and Labor has targeted this as a huge scalp.
It is early in the night but if Dutton was to lose his seat, the Liberals would have to find a new leader.
In the unlikely event the Coalition was to form government, we would have a party with no leader in power.
Just under three hours after polls closed, Labor candidate Ali France has won 34.5 per cent of the votes so far, while Dutton has 30.7 per cent.
Independent candidate Ellie Smith is at a modest 13.0 per cent.
Preferences from Smith, who is backed by environmental group Climate 200 and calls herself a “maroon” independent, could decide the seat.
Croucher labelled the seat “messy”.
“This is concerning for the Liberal Party,” he said.
Dutton has held Dickson since 2001.