One million advance votes will likely have been cast by the end of Monday, ahead of Saturday's too-close-to-call election contest.
On polling, Chris Luxon's National appears certain to bleed support and MPs elected in its 2023 election win, as coalition partners NZ First and ACT jump in support.
Mr Luxon used a two-hour appearance on New Zealand's top-rating breakfast radio show to emphasise a second-term agenda that might appeal to conservatives.
"The thing I really want to tackle in the second term ... is public sector reform," Mr Luxon told Newstalk ZB on Monday.
"What I really need to do from day one, and what we plan to do, is really right size."
National is hoping to book billions in savings from axing public servants, bringing the overall headcount down from roughly 63,000 to 55,000 by 2029, which would represent one per cent of the population.
Mr Luxon used a gardening analogy to explain his first-term efforts to grapple with the size of government.
"You take over an overgrown garden and you trim back your hedges and rip some things out," he said.
"But you've actually got to do a complete landscaping job."
National is fighting on three fronts as it competes with its coalition partners for votes, the Labour-led left bloc and a teal-style party Opportunity.
NZ First and ACT are urging National Party supporters to cast votes for them, in the hope of gaming the electoral system in the coalition's favour.
Mr Luxon has hit back at the campaign, which could cost his party power in any future government.
"It does risk being confusing and does risk, in a tight election ... putting a Labour government in place," he said.
In recent weeks, National has gone negative, attacking the left for planning nine new taxes - including in a catchy song - and demonising Greens co-leader Chloe Swarbrick as a would-be finance minister.
Labour Leader Chris Hipkins has ruled out each of his would-be coalition partners' taxes - including the Greens' wealth tax - while maintaining Labour's finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds will hold the job in government.
Ms Swarbrick told Radio NZ she was "effectively being cyber-bullied by the most powerful people in the country".
"The National Party are hysterical and they are throwing haymakers on the way down," she said, while maintaining an interest in the finance portfolio, akin to Australia's treasurer.
"Any politician who actually is interested in meaningfully transforming the economic system would want that portfolio."
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