Business is disheartened by the uncertain election result, warning Australia cannot afford another three years of politicking as the mining boom fades.
Andrew Bassat, the chief executive of job search firm Seek, said a hung parliament "would clearly be a bad outcome for Australia". 
"For some time we have had prime ministers having to worry both about their support within their own party and then having difficulty getting legislation through. This is definitely not conducive to the long-term leadership this country sorely needs," Mr Bassat told Fairfax Media.  
"I am concerned that a weakened coalition government will find it hard to not only get [corporate] tax cuts through but to generally focus on supporting business growth, which is so critical to the prosperity of this country and to employment outcomes." 
Michael Chaney, chairman of Wesfarmers, Australia's largest private-sector employer, said: "I think it's very disappointing that, at this stage at least, there's no clear majority for any party, because uncertainty is never good for consumer confidence nor for business investment. 
"Whichever way it goes it appears that it's going to be difficult for any party to govern in its own right, certainly in the Senate, and that means we'll have another three years, until the next election, of compromise and less effective government than it otherwise would be."
The Coalition went into the election promising substantial corporate tax cuts over a decade, trimmed superannuation tax concessions, and the re-establishment of a construction industry watchdog.
Re-establishing the watchdog was the trigger for the double-dissolution election and a promise largely ignored in the campaign. Should the Coalition form minority government, those promises hang in the balance. 
Business expressed hope the corporate tax cuts would go ahead, but were divided on whether a minority Coalition government had won a mandate. 
"I think they'd certainly been intending to legislate them [tax cuts]," Mr Chaney said. "Whether they come, obviously in that circumstance, will be up to the minor parties."
Mike Hirst, managing director of Bendigo and Adelaide Bank, said the election result was "disappointing" and called on politicians to act in the national interest. 
"We needed someone who had enough of a mandate to put in place a vision that everybody could get in behind and unfortunately we're not in that position," Mr Hirst said. "In the short term that's going to impact on business confidence, and that will in turn impact on consumer confidence."
Is a hung parliament necessarily a bad one? "That depends on whether or not things can get done. If all of the politicians can find a way forward for the benefit of the country, then fantastic."
Mark Fitzgibbon, the boss of health insurer NIB, said that, while a hung parliament was "obviously not ideal", Australians shouldn't "exaggerate the role of government" when it comes to business success.
But Alex Malley, boss of accounting body CPA Australia, said the Coalition had failed to get a mandate on corporate cuts. He said personal tax cuts - and more years of avoiding tough decisions - were more likely.
Meanwhile, retailers are holding their breath to see whether the next government proceeds with making people pay GST on online purchases from   July 2017, said Russell Zimmerman, executive director of the Australian Retailers Association.
The success of the Nick Xenophon Team has also thrown up question marks about whether there will be changes to penalty rates and a crackdown on tax avoidance by international firms.
Senator Xenophon has said that Sunday pay rates are "stifling" for small business, and CPA Australia's Malley said tax minimisation was "fertile ground" for the new party because the "government has done nothing about it". 
James Pearson, the CEO of the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, called on the Coalition to revive its passion for the construction industry watchdog. "It was a sound trigger for the double dissolution. It remains a sensible measure to put a tough cop on the beat in one of Australia's most important industries."