Australia election: How Scott Morrison ran out of miracles

In 2019 Scott Morrison said he "believed in miracles" when he won an election that he had been projected to lose. This time around, it seems he ran out of them.

Voters turned on his conservative coalition on Saturday, flipping key seats to Labor and independents. After conceding to Anthony Albanese, Mr Morrison said he would step down as Liberal leader.

"I always believed in Australians and their judgement, and I've always been prepared to accept their verdicts and tonight they have delivered their verdict," he said.

Mr Morrison has been the more experienced "image builder" and campaigner of the two major party leaders. He has projected this persona of the "typical Australian dad" - someone you can trust, someone who has seen the country through the pandemic and whose governing Liberal-National coalition has been the better economic manager of Australia.

"They're all going to lie," one voter told the BBC. "It's about who you like."

This has really stayed with me.

It's been clear from the campaign that many voters didn't like Mr Morrison. That image of the trustworthy family man has been eroded over the past three years, mainly because more people have felt that this image was just that - an image - not genuine and certainly not to be trusted.

In the past three years there have been moments where his leadership and image fell short.

Many of those affected by Australia's natural disasters have said the prime minister was an absent leader. He wasn't on the ground when he needed to be, they said, and when he was, it was more of a photo op than a genuine presence to listen to people's concerns and even deal with their anger.

Aidan Rickets, a resident in the town of Lismore that has recently been devastated by the floods told the BBC that Mr Morrison "loved to tell us how resilient our communities are and that he knows we'll rebuild… Well how about helping us":[]}