More than a million New Zealanders have now cast an early vote in Saturday's general election, after the busiest single day of advance voting so far on Monday.

Electoral Commission statistics reported by RNZ on Tuesday afternoon put the running total at 1,074,416 votes at the close of Monday 2 November. Of those, 159,994 were cast on Monday itself. The figures exclude votes from overseas.

The tally keeps this election well ahead of 2023, when 860,668 people had voted by the equivalent day. It remains behind 2020, however, when 1,282,028 people had voted at the same stage of a campaign held during the Covid-19 pandemic, with voters strongly encouraged to avoid election-day queues.

The new total means roughly 28 per cent of the 1.07 million came through the doors on a single day. RNZ reported on Sunday that 913,762 people, or about 24 per cent of those enrolled, had voted by the end of Saturday 31 October, compared with 712,192, or 19 per cent, at the same point three years ago. RNZ reported that the daily count has exceeded 2023's on every day since advance voting opened.

For Invercargill and Southland, the two general electorates that cover the province, the figures are consistent with what the Herald reported last week, when first-week turnout tracked ahead of 2023 while enrolment slipped to 93.6 per cent of those eligible. Both seats were rated among the safest in the country going into the campaign, but the party vote in each is being fought hard, with National's 2023 share in the region running well above its national result.

The surge in early votes matters for how election night unfolds, because advance votes are the first to be counted once polls close, and a large advance total tends to give a clearer picture earlier in the evening.

The final 1News-Verian poll of the campaign, published on Tuesday night, showed National on 30 per cent and Labour on 29, with the Greens at 16, ACT at 10, New Zealand First at 8 and the Opportunities Party at 6. RNZ reported the poll projected neither the current coalition nor the Labour-Greens bloc could govern without Opportunity's seats, which leaves the final days of voting with more riding on them than usual.

Election day is Saturday 7 November. Voters can find their nearest voting place and check their enrolment at vote.nz.