By Kat Wong and Dominic Giannini in Canberra

Australians in outer suburban and regional areas are being courted by the coalition while Labor is trying to woo all taxpayers with its hip-pocket help.

But as the election contest heats up, it is clear voters will only benefit from one or the other.

Ahead of his budget reply speech, Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has vowed to remove Labor’s newly announced tax cuts in favour of the coalition’s plan to halve the fuel excise for 12 months, lowering the rate on petrol and diesel from about 50 cents to 25 cents per litre.

Voters in outer suburban and regional areas are expected to be the biggest beneficiaries, according to NRMA spokesman Peter Khoury.

“They drive more and drive longer distances, and have older cars that use more fuel,” he told AAP.

Seats in these areas will be crucial to the election outcome as many are held by Labor on a knife’s edge, election analyst Ben Raue said..

Werriwa in western Sydney, Hawke in Melbourne’s western fringe and central coast electorates like Shortland, Robertson and Dobell could all fall to the coalition if Mr Dutton plays his cards correctly.

However, the main influence on Australia’s petrol prices is not the excise but oil prices, Mr Khoury said.

“Lower petrol prices are better for everyone but what we want is lower and sustainable prices, which require oil prices to fall,” he told AAP.

When Australia last cut the fuel excise under the former Liberal government, oil prices happened to spike around the same time due to the war in Ukraine, and the perceived savings were “eaten up”.

Mr Dutton has maintained his plan is better than Labor’s tax cuts as it would take effect immediately.

“People will get relief at the bowser straight away … Labor’s plan comes in 15 months time and it’s about 70 cents a day,” he told the Today show on Thursday.

“Australians need support now.”

Asked if he would offer voters cuts to taxes and the fuel excise, Mr Dutton said it was an “either-or” option.

“We just can’t pretend that we’ve got endless amounts of money,” he said.

While the excise will provide some relief to some middle-income families, it will also benefit transport tycoons like Lindsay Fox and will not help the thousands of electric vehicle owners across Australia.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the opposition leader had “gone back to the Morrison playbook”.

“This is what Scott Morrison did in the 2022 budget but then it disappeared because it was time-limited,” he told ABC radio.

“This is time-limited as well – just for one year, no ongoing cost-of-living help.”

The coalition voted against the tax cuts baked into the budget, saying they were too little, too late for struggling Australians – though the reforms passed regardless.

Taxpayers will save up to $268 on their tax bills in 2026/27 and up to $536 every year after under Labor’s proposal, eventually equating to about $10 a week.

While this will benefit many more voters, Mr Raue warns the policy’s impact could be too diffuse.

“For people that read the news, it’s great, but otherwise you’re not going to immediately notice it in your pay packet,” he told AAP.

“The benefit will be spread very thinly.”

Treasurer Jim Chalmers has insisted the cuts are “modest in isolation but substantial when combined with all of the ways that we are helping”.

The opposition has so far remained tight-lipped on tax relief or economic policy it will offer voters at the election.

It has pledged to fast-track gas approvals and extend ageing coal-fired power plants to reduce electricity prices in the medium term, in a move slammed by environmental groups.

Speculation is increasing the prime minister will call the election as early as Friday, firing the starting gun on a minimum 33-day campaign that will end with voters going to the polls in May.