CANBERRA -- Early voting began in Australia's general election on Tuesday, with about half of the country's 18 million registered voters expected to cast their ballots before election day on May 3.

Hundreds of early voting centers across Australia opened their doors from 8:30 a.m. local time as the election campaign entered its final stretch.

The proportion of Australians choosing to vote early, either in person or by post, has steadily increased at recent federal elections from under 20 percent in 2004 to almost 50 percent in 2022.