Advance voting closes on Friday evening, and from 9am on Saturday Southlanders who have yet to cast a ballot will have 10 hours to do so before voting places shut at 7pm.

The Electoral Commission says more than 2300 voting places will operate on election day in schools, community halls, shopping centres, churches, campuses and marae. More than 220 are designated Whare Pōti Māori, with 67 of those operating in both te reo Māori and English, and 1679 are fully accessible for people with disabilities.

In Fiordland, Te Anau will have seven voting places open on Saturday, the Electoral Commission's Te Anau manager Robert Manning told RNZ, and some locals had told him they were holding off voting until election day so they could see the new hall at the local school. Commission staff spent 31 October running a one-day voting place at Milford Sound for a community of about 120 permanent residents, many of them bus drivers, guides and hospitality workers who cannot easily get to town.

Voters can find their nearest voting place at vote.nz, and lists have also been displayed in supermarkets through the advance period. An EasyVote card speeds things up at the desk but is not required; staff in orange vests can look voters up on the roll.

Enrolment closed at midnight on 25 October, before advance voting opened. Anyone who enrolled after writ day on 4 October, or who votes outside their own electorate, will cast a special vote. Special votes are counted after election day, which is why the result can shift in the weeks that follow. In 2020 they made up just over a fifth of all votes.

The rules change on Saturday. From midnight on Friday until the polls close, nothing may be published that is intended or likely to influence how people vote, and that includes social media posts, paid online advertising and party hoardings, which must be down before the day begins. Sign-written vehicles, flags and bumper stickers carrying party or candidate material must be out of public view. Election-related demonstrations, processions and megaphones are banned.

According to the Electoral Commission's guidance, telling people you have voted and encouraging them to do the same is fine, as is offering someone a lift to a voting place, provided no one tries to steer them towards a party or candidate. Lapel badges and rosettes are the one form of party material allowed, so long as they do not carry a candidate's name.

Inside the voting place, filming and photography are not permitted, and publishing a picture of someone marking their paper is a potential offence. The commission has asked people to leave promptly after voting and to be patient, as many of its staff this year are working their first election. Within 10 metres of an entrance no campaign material or election demonstration is allowed, and free food, drink or entertainment near a voting place during voting hours is prohibited unless it is a business trading normally.

Advance turnout nationally passed 1 million on Monday, and The Spinoff reported on Friday that well over 1.5 million people were expected to have voted before Saturday. The commission has not published a final advance figure for the Invercargill and Southland electorates.

On election night, advance votes are tallied from 9am but nothing is released until after 7pm. The commission aims to have half of voting places reported by 10pm and 95 per cent of the preliminary count by 11.30pm. The official result, including special votes, is due on 27 November.

Voters who need help getting to a voting place or who have questions about their enrolment can ring the commission's helpline, 0800 36 76 56.