That’s all from me for now – but I’ll be back live blogging this evening’s final face-off between Chris Hipkins and Christopher Luxon. Yup, there’s another debate. It’s on TVNZ1 at 7pm and will be the last chance for the two leaders to go head-to-head before polls close on Saturday.

In the meantime, here are some of the day’s top stories:

• Can Tāmati Coffey make an East Coast comeback?
• On the campaign trail: Luxon takes aim at ‘desperate’ Hipkins over race comments; Labour leader Chris Hipkins has cast his vote ahead of Saturday’s election.
• Policies in two minutes: Housing and education
• There’s a new episode of our politics podcast Gone By Lunchtime on how National gave the final strait of the election to Winston Peters.

Ahead of this Saturday’s election, The Spinoff live updates asked a smattering of MPs and candidates from across the political spectrum for their favourite door knocking story of the campaign. Up next: Green Party MP and Mount Albert candidate Ricardo Menéndez March, who writes…

I really enjoy door knocking, it’s one of the best ways to understand where people are at. I’ve been doing a lot lately in Ōwairaka and Grey Lynn and it’s always fun meeting first time voters, whether they’re young people or older new residents.

I feel bad if I wake people from naps! Recently I visited a house that had a huge scary sign saying “Beware of the Dog” and it was just a little poodle!

I love dogs so will take any opportunity to cuddle the friendly dogs of Mt Albert!

Jacinda Ardern has made her second plea to voters in as many days, sharing a video on Instagram in which she labelled this weekend’s election incredibly close.

“Your vote could be a deciding vote,” said the former Labour prime minister. “Make sure you go out and use your voice this weekend.”

Ardern has been conspicuously absent from the campaign since leaving politics at the start of the year. She told followers on Facebook yesterday that it was an intentional choice to avoid wading into domestic issues. Recently, we’ve heard from other ex-leaders including John Key and Helen Clark.

The latest update from the Electoral Commission records that 127,774 people cast advance votes yesterday. If you were one of them, just think: had you decided not to vote that would have been 127,773.

That means, as of close of play Wednesday there had been a total of 970,818 advance voters. Depending on final turnout, that’s likely to be about a third of all voters.

With two days of advance voting to go in 2017, the advance vote tally was 806, 380; at the same point in 2020 (after a longer advance period and with Covid in the air) it was more than 1.5 million.

Christopher Luxon spent the morning at a childcare centre in Te Atatu alongside his education spokesperson Erica Stanford.

It was the only media-facing event of his schedule before the final leaders’ debate on TVNZ1 tonight, and before the final leg of the campaign tomorrow.

The National leader was quick to find the distinctive blue play dough as he joined a group of children at the Best Start centre. “Making any dinosaurs?” he asked the group of toddlers, who didn’t seem at all fazed by the large media contingent gathered around. He was later handed a toy dinosaur, which meant Luxon gave up on his own efforts to construct one out of dough.

As has often been the tradition on this election campaign, Luxon’s press conference was dominated by potential coalition questions. The decision to rule in Winston Peters so close to polling day has resulted in a boost of support for New Zealand First, apparently at the expense of Act.

“I’m very confident I’ll be able to do business with [Peters],” Luxon said three times after being asked repeatedly whether he would be able to lead a three-party coalition with Act and New Zealand First. “I appreciate all the hypotheticals and the parlour games but you’re getting way ahead of yourselves.”

Earlier today, Chris Hipkins took aim at what he perceived to be racist elements of this campaign, referencing Don Brash and the 2005 election. Luxon said it was “desperate” and that Hipkins was “throwing muck at walls” to see what sticks.

“National governments and Māori have worked incredibly well together,” he said. On Hipkins’ claim that Māori would “lose” if National wins the election, Luxon simply retorted: “If National win, Labour loses and that’s a very good thing for New Zealand.”

And as for tonight’s leaders’ debate – the last chance for voters to see Luxon and Hipkins face-off before polls close – the National leader said he was feeling relaxed. “I’m just going to be me.”

Comedian Cal Wilson has passed away at the age of 53 after a short illness, it was announced yesterday.

Wilson was a mainstay of New Zealand and Australian screens across four decades, writing and performing in comedy shows such as Skitz, Telly Laughs, Pio!, The Panel, Pulp Comedy, 7 Days, Have You Been Paying Attention and Whose Line is it Anyway. Most recently, she hosted The Great Australian Bake Off. She was the inaugural winner of the Billy T Award with the late Ewen Gilmour in 1997, and founded the Christchurch-based Court Jesters improv team in 1990.

She died on Wednesday “surrounded by family and friends after a short illness at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital”, read a statement from her management agency. “Cal’s generosity, talent and friendship have been constants in the Australian comedy scene for the last twenty years. Cal was loved by her family, friends, fans and peers and a huge hole has been torn in the heart of our community.”

A tribute from the New Zealand Comedy Trust follows:

“Cal Wilson was a fearless pioneer of comedy across Aotearoa and Australia, making her mark early as the inaugural winner of the prestigious Billy T Award in 1997 alongside the late Ewen Gilmour.

A writer, actress and stand-up comic, Cal was a much-adored member of our comedy community. The NZ Comedy Festival team, our Trust Board and her peers are devastated by the news that someone so kind and brilliantly funny has passed so suddenly, having achieved so much and yet with much more still ahead of her.

Cal was one of a kind. She fully inhabited her unique style and unforgettable voice and never stopped finding ways to bring joy. She was renowned for her distinctive look, which combined her love of colour, vivacious patterns and excellent hair. During a Covid lockdown, Cal created headdresses using doll parts and Christmas baubles to delight her online fans — a project beautifully captured in a painting by Cairns-based artist Andrea Huelin, which won the Packing Room Prize in this year’s Archibald Award.

The outpouring of love and loss for Cal is a tribute to her natural, free-flowing generosity and open heart. She mentored so many people throughout her life – not all of whom saw themselves as comedians, but Cal knew they would fit alongside her on stage.

‘I think the thing is that as a comedian, you can only be how you are. You can’t be funnier than you are, and you can’t be someone that you’re not, because the audience knows if you’re not being authentic.’

Cal was one in five million. Our hearts are with her husband Chris and their son, her wider comedy whānau, and the many friends she made all across the world.”

You can watch an interview with Wilson that spans her career as part of Funny As on NZ on Screen.

The latest update to Statistics New Zealand’s food price index shows an increase of 8% overall in food prices since the same time last year. Grocery food (mostly shelf-stable stuff as well as eggs and dairy) increased the most, by 10.7%. According to Stats NZ’s consumer prices manager James Mitchell, the biggest increases were from eggs, potato chips and lollies.

While the cost of fruit and vegetables has been a focus during the election campaign, with Labour pledging to remove the GST from produce, the price of these items increase by only 1.4% – less than restaurant meals an non-alcoholic beverages.

The food price index is determined by a “basket” of items determined to be commonly purchased, in the categories of groceries, fresh produces, non-alcoholic beverages, different types of meat and restaurant meals/ready-to-eat food. Data is released each month, which you can find here.

The last food price index, in August, showed an increase of 8.9%.

Labour leader Chris Hipkins has cast his vote ahead of Saturday’s election.

Following an address to party faithful at a marae in Favona, Hipkins headed down the road to Māngere to formally vote.

Given his hometown is in Remutaka, the electorate he holds, Hipkins had to cast a special vote. National’s Christopher Luxon was also forced to cast a special vote as while he’s the MP for Botany, his home is in neighbouring Epsom.

Hipkins said he was feeling very good about his vote.

Speaking from Ngā Whare Waatea Marae in South Auckland this morning, Labour leader Chris Hipkins has talked up his party’s record on race relations and said a National-Act-NZ First coalition would take Māori backwards.

Hipkins was forthright on what he believed were elements of racism in the current campaign of the right, comparing it to that run by Don Brash as National leader in 2005. “I used to get incensed driving down the Hutt road and seeing those iwi/Kiwi billboards. I was outraged that a mainstream party would so blatantly seek to divide us.

“But Don Brash didn’t win that election. And in the closing days of this campaign my message to New Zealanders is let’s ensure Christopher Luxon doesn’t win either. Because if Christopher Luxon wins, Maōri lose,” he said.

Hipkins referenced cabinet minister Willow Jean Prime getting shouted down at a hostile electorate event when she spoke te reo Māori, and Luxon responding to a supporter’s concern over seeing the word “kura” on a school sign with, “Well buddy, you’ve got to vote on October 14 to get me into government.”

He said he thought his government could have done a better job at advocating the decisions it has made in regards to Māori. “We have amazing Māori ministers who have made so much progress in the face of incredible odds,” Hipkins said. “But I don’t want the progress we make in race relations to be by accident, or advanced in silence. I want to build real support for the more equitable country promised in Te Tiriti and which is the ongoing goal of Labour.”

Hipkins said elements of the campaign have been racist. “There certainly haven’t been overtly racist elements, but some thinly veiled,” he said. “Political leaders have a responsibility to call out racism in the election.”

Hipkins is now heading to a voting place in Māngere to cast his advance vote.

This campaign has felt like a lifetime and so it’s almost unbelievable to say – there are just two days left…

Here’s where the party leaders are today.

• Ahead of tonight’s final leaders debate on TVNZ, Labour leader Chris Hipkins is in Auckland. He’ll join members of the Labour Māori caucus for an event in Favona this morning before casting his advance vote in nearby Mangere. Later, he’ll address a union event.
• National’s Christopher Luxon is also in Auckland and has just one event on his schedule. He’ll visit a childcare centre in Te Atatu and speak to media.
• Both Luxon and Hipkins will head away to prep for tonight’s debate in the afternoon. We’ll have rolling coverage and some group analysis of tonight’s debate here on The Spinoff.
• Meanwhile, Green co-leader James Shaw will also be at this morning’s union meeting alongside Hipkins. Later, he’ll join Marama Davidson in Wellington for an end of campaign rally and the pair will help party volunteers make calls to prospective voters.

Shanti Mathias has a piece this morning looking at some of the policy gaps that have emerged amid the flurry that landed over the campaign. We have already noted the lack of media, arts and culture, AI and disability policy from some parties. Christopher Luxon himself has made a note of New Zealand’s “inward-looking” character and yet, despite the current state of global precarity, the brutal wars ongoing and unfolding, and the increased interest in the Pacific from China and the US, it does seem odd that we have a dearth of defence, refugee and international aid policy.

The Herald’s Michael Neilson has also highlighted the lack of discussion about family violence (paywalled) during the campaign. In all the talk of increased crime, the most significant proportion of that increase has been family violence reports (paywalled). Neilson, Chris Knox and Derek Cheng have done great work on crime statistics this year for the Herald. As Cheng noted back in July in his investigation into claims crime was out of control (paywalled), one of the best ways to tackle crime appears to be preventing crime that takes place within the family or at home.

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The countdown to election day is on and both parties are making their final pitches to those yet to cast a vote.

The Herald’s poll of polls paints an unpleasant picture for the Labour Party: a 0% chance of Labour, the Greens, and Te Pāti Māori making it over the line, despite a slight uptick in support for Labour in the two latest television polls.

On the flip side, the poll of polls shows a 99.8% chance that the next government will be comprised of National, Act, and New Zealand First.

The fact New Zealand First is so strongly in the mix will be unpleasant reading for Christopher Luxon. Writing for The Spinoff, Toby Manhire described the “strategic blunder” that Luxon made by unleashing Peters just a few weeks ago.

“The greatest trick Winston Peters ever pulled was Christopher Luxon becoming convinced he didn’t exist,” wrote Manhire.

Similarly for Newsroom, Jo Moir has crunched the numbers and revealed that New Zealand First has, on average, risen by 1.5% in the polls since Luxon confirmed he would – if absolutely necessary – work with Peters.

Speaking to RNZ this morning, National’s campaign chair Chris Bishop said there remained an “eminent possibility” that National would be able to govern with just Act. “People have over read [Luxon’s] decision… a little bit because actually what we were doing was making it clear and being upfront and transparent with New Zealanders about our preferred governing transparent,” said Bishop.

“Nobody believes Chris Hipkins when he says that he won’t pick up the phone and deal with Winston Peters.”

Bishop said that the worst case scenario before Luxon’s call had been a situation where neither party was willing to work with New Zealand First and, should the party get over 5%, the country was left in limbo after election day. “Fundamentally we would have spent much of the campaign talking about that anyway,” he said.

But Labour’s campaign chair Megan Woods believed the surge for her party was on – and undecided voters were yet to turn out and cast a vote. “We’ve seen this surge coming, we’ve felt it for much longer,” she said, taking aim at National for its “inexperience” and a “lack of political judgement”.  that’s what we’ll be working right through until midnight on Friday making sure we’re turning out each and every vote.

Woods claimed that people who were once going to back National had decided to change their votes because of political messiness from the opposition.

The only certainty in all this is that polls close at 7pm on Saturday.