MPs and party leaders have arrived at Parliament, as confidential discussions about the formation of a new National-led government begins.
National and ACT together have 61 seats in a 121-seat Parliament, but under the preliminary results can't rely on being able to forge ahead with their favoured option of a two-party coalition.
Incoming Prime Minister Christopher Luxon says his team has reached out to New Zealand First and is looking to progress talks before the special votes have been counted.
Luxon says negotiations between National, ACT and New Zealand First will happen behind closed doors.
"I won't have too much to say about it because we want to put the process in place, work with those parties, work through the arrangements, build the relationships so we can form a strong and stable government," says Luxon.
Meanwhile, new National MPs and Labour MPs have also touched down in the capital.
Labour Party MP Willie Jackson told reporters at Wellington Airport that he was hopeful Chris Hipkins would stay on in his role as party leader.
"We've gotta find out what Chippy wants to do, and hopefully he wants to stay."
It was disappointing for Labour to lose the Māori seats it had, but "the wave was against us", he said.
Labour Party Deputy Leader Carmel Sepuloni said she personally had "no intention to leave and go anywhere".
While disappointed at the election result, Sepuloni said she has been around long enough to "see the different swings and the cycles".
She remained optimistic and said Labour now needs to regroup, reset and discuss "where we go to from here".
Look back over Monday's post-election developments with RNZ's blog:
