The Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet has been forced to apologise after it mistakenly announced the federal government had entered caretaker mode, despite Prime Minister Anthony Albanese not yet calling the election.

In an embarrassing blunder on Thursday, the department posted on its official social media account that “the government is now operating in accordance with caretaker conventions pending the outcome of the 2025 federal election.”

The post was swiftly deleted, but not before it fuelled speculation that Albanese could call the election as early as Friday, preempting Peter Dutton’s budget reply speech.

A spokesperson for the department confirmed the mistake, saying, “We are not in caretaker. This is clearly an error. We are trying to find out why it occurred and we apologise.”

Albanese later confirmed an election call was “imminent” but said the formal process had not yet begun. The Prime Minister must first visit Governor-General Sam Mostyn to request the dissolution of parliament before making the announcement official.

Meanwhile, Labor sources say strategists are planning a five-week campaign, avoiding a longer six-week contest they view as costly and exhausting for voters, who will be inundated with political ads from the weekend.

The latest Newspoll shows the Coalition leading Labor 51-49 on the two-party preferred vote, while Albanese remains ahead of Dutton as preferred prime minister, 47-38.

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