Nervous wait for Greens and teals; bold looks at the Met Gala; and Japan’s love hotels

Good afternoon. The political careers of the Greens leader, Adam Bandt, and several teal independents remain in the balance as counting continues from Saturday’s election.

While Bandt has said he is confident of retaining his seat, on Tuesday afternoon the AEC showed Labor’s Sarah Witty ahead with preferences moving in her direction.

Elsewhere, Tim Wilson of the Liberals has overtaken the teal independent Zoe Daniel in the seat of Goldstein, according to the current tracking of two-party-preferred count, as of the time of writing. The Liberal candidate in the Sydney seat of Bradfield, Gisele Kapterian, has also overtaken independent candidate Nicolette Boele. In Kooyong, the independent Monique Ryan still remains likely to win. Follow all the latest results as they come in on our live tracker.

Meanwhile, Liberal MPs will meet in coming days to elect a replacement for the defeated opposition leader, Peter Dutton, after the party’s historic drubbing on the weekend. Guardian Australia’s Tom McIlroy and Krishani Dhanji have surveyed the field.

“I am a Liberal, and I’m still very much committed to Liberal values, but I think the behaviour of some of the people in that party room is absolutely reprehensible.”

Hollie Hughes, a Liberal senator for NSW whose term expires in June, has claimed the shadow treasurer, Angus Taylor, was manoeuvring for the Liberal leadership weeks before the end of the election campaign on Saturday.

The national median rent for all properties has increased $5 to $630 a week in April, according to rent.com.au’s latest snapshot. The increase in sharehouse rents was influenced by the median weekly price per room which also lifted $3 to $363 a week for apartments, while rooms in houses remained stable at $200 a week.

We’re having sex inside Moby Dick! The wild architectural world of Japan’s love hotels

From cruise ships to UFOs, from King Kong to a giant whale, half the sex in Japan may take place in its dazzlingly imaginative love hotels. But have some become just too seedy?

Today’s starter word is: PEAR. You have five goes to get the longest word including the starter word. Play Wordiply.

Enjoying the Afternoon Update? Then you’ll love our Morning Mail newsletter. Sign up here to start the day with a curated breakdown of the key stories you need to know, and complete your daily news roundup.

And follow the latest in US politics by signing up for This Week in Trumpland.

If you have a story tip or technical issue viewing this newsletter, please reply to this email.

If you are a Guardian supporter and need assistance with regards to contributions and/or digital subscriptions, please email customer.help@guardian.co.uk