By chief political correspondent Emma Griffiths
Photo: Tony Abbott meets with Treasury Secretary Dr Martin Parkinson and Finance Secretary David Tune in Sydney. (AAP: Alan Porritt Porr)
Prime Minister-elect Tony Abbott says he is already "getting down to business", while the Labor Party is girding itself for the difficult task of rebuilding after last night's election defeat.
The Coalition won the election with a national swing of 3.5 per cent, seizing a swathe of seats in Tasmania, Victoria and across New South Wales.
Mr Abbott began his first day as the nation's leader with a bike ride with a group of friends and breakfast at his home in Sydney.
"This is essentially a working day," he said, in brief remarks this morning.
"People expect that, the day after an election, an incoming government will be getting down to business. And that's what I'll be doing today."
He has since attended his first meetings with the nation's most senior public servants - the heads of the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet and Finance and Treasury departments.
In brief opening remarks he told them he is an optimist about the economy but also wants to move quickly to implement his policies.
He assured the departmental heads he is up to the job.
"I've had a long experience of working with senior levels of the public service as employment minister," he said.
"Obviously I had some economic role so and then as health minister I was responsible for a $40 billion-a-year-plus budget."
Mr Abbott, who stressed it is important the government "lives within its means", will also receive a briefing on the Syria crisis before he returns to Canberra tomorrow.
- Live blog: Abbott off and running as Coalition takes power
- Election 2013 - Winners and losers
- Live election results overview
Shorten vows to unite Labor, undecided on leadership
In Labor ranks, the frontrunner to lead the party in opposition, Bill Shorten, says the process to replace Kevin Rudd will be free of "rancour" and "division".
Whoever it is, they will lead a much-reduced Labor team, with around 15 Labor MPs losing their seats, including former assistant treasurer David Bradbury, who lost his western Sydney seat of Lindsay.
Though still in its early stages, the leadership contest is shaping up as one between the Victorian right-wing factional heavyweight and the NSW left-wing former deputy prime minister, Anthony Albanese.
Neither man has publicly indicated they will be a contender and Mr Shorten says he has still not made up his mind.
"I am genuinely undecided," he told the ABC's Insiders program.
He added that he would have to talk to his family, explaining: "I have been away from them a great deal".
Photo: Prime Minister-elect Tony Abbott started his day with a bike ride. (AAP: Paul Miller)
But he says regardless of who prevails, the process has to be "marked by the lessons of the past".
"No rancour, no external discussions, no division - but how do we be the best Opposition?" he said.
"We know that the internal in-fighting allowed our other work to be overshadowed and I know that this generation - the new generation after this election - are determined to learn those lessons.
"We will not have the public in-fighting you have seen in recent years."
In an early first sign of that intention, the former Australian Worker's Union Secretary and cabinet minister praised the man who could be his main competitor.
"I think Anthony Albanese is a remarkable politician," Mr Shorten said.
"If he was to be the leader of the Labor Party, I've got no doubt he would be very good."
Mr Albanese has responded in kind, saying: "Bill, of course, would make a good Labor leader".
"I'd be happy to serve with whoever Caucus chooses and be loyal to them," he told Channel 10.
"What's important is that the Labor Party serve as a team, that it's united, that we defend our legacy and that we take up the arguments to Tony Abbott."
New rules for Labor leadership ballot
Unless there is only one candidate for the leadership, new Caucus rules announced in July by Mr Rudd are expected to still stand.
They stipulate that the new leader be elected jointly by the party membership and by caucus, with each given equal weight of 50 per cent.
Such a ballot would take about a month and once a leader is chosen, a caucus petition signed by 60 per cent of MPs would be the only way to replace them.
Video: Shorten undecided on Labor leadership (ABC News)
Labor's national secretary - whose own position is under threat after the party's abysmal showing - says once a new leader is chosen the decision must be final.
"The most important thing is that we choose one - we get one and we stick with it," George Wright said.
"I think Bill would be good, I think Anthony's got capability - there's a whole lot of people who could do the job.
"The key thing is to pick our leader and all get in behind that leader and work as hard as we can."
Mr Shorten was instrumental in both the ousting of Mr Rudd as prime minister in 2010 and the downfall of Julia Gillard in June, earning him the reputation of being a "prime ministerial assassin".
Despite that, Labor luminary and failed candidate Peter Beattie has given him a ringing endorsement.
"I have a lot of faith in Bill Shorten. I would think his background is ideal to engage with the working families," he said.
"But more importantly, if Bill Shorten does get the leadership, or whoever gets it, we have to be loyal. We have to support the leader, not undermine the leader. It is the old adage: disunity is death, unity is strength.
"That's the lesson the Labor Party has to learn. We can go through the intestines of this and talk about that campaign and who did this and that, the bottom line is we could have won yesterday if we had unity."
