Under the rules agreed by both Labor and the Liberal Parties ahead of the debate, notes were not allowed during the hour-long contest.

The rules, released by the National Press Club last Friday stated: ''The Leaders may have a pen and paper on the lecturn [sic] and no other documentation or props.''

When Mr Rudd shook hands with with Mr Abbott at the start of the debate, there was nothing in his hands, but on his lectern there was a clear plastic folder containing papers.

At the end of the debate, Mr Rudd handed the folder to his daughter, Jessica.

Before the debate, Mr Rudd referred on Twitter to briefings for the contest, which was the first leaders' debate of the 2013 election campaign.

''I have lots of official briefs for the debate,'' he posted, along with a picture of him sitting among papers at a desk. ''Does anyone have some good jokes?''

Mr Rudd most obviously appeared to rely on notes in his closing statement.

On Monday, at a Sydney press conference Mr Rudd joked that he had notes with him.

''Consistent with my normal practice of using notes. I prefer to be across the detail wherever I can,''" he told reporters at Macquarie University.

When asked about his notes during the debate, Mr Rudd said he had acted in good faith - and that no one had told him he could not use notes.

''I prefer to be as accurate as I can,'' he said.

Debate moderator, Sky political editor David Speers said that it was very hard to be absolutely sure from where he was standing during the debate that Mr Rudd was using notes.

It would have been a ''big step'' to call the Prime Minister out on the act, he told Fairfax Media on Monday.

Earlier on Monday Mr Speers told ABC radio in Sydneythat he didn't pick up at the time that Mr Rudd was reading from notes - as he himself was busy writing his own notes.

''I've been copping a lot of flak on Twitter and elsewhere for not jumping in and ripping those notes off Kevin Rudd,'' Mr Speers said.

''Has he broken the rules? Well technically, yes, I think he probably has.''

Mr Abbott said on Monday that the notes issue was not the key one of the debate.

''It's not so much whether you have notes or haven't notes. It's is what you have to say worth saying,'' he told reporters in Melbourne.

The Opposition Leader said he thought that the debate was a good one, joking: ''I certainly thought every minute was full of excitement one way or another.''

He repeated his call for community forums for the rest of the campaign, as opposed to debates featuring the Canberra press gallery.

''Let's give the public their chance at the two subsequent debates that I'm proposing,'' he said.

Asked about the issue earlier on morning radio in Melbourne on Monday, Mr Abbott said he thought it was ''odd'' that Mr Rudd brought notes and confirmed that he was told not to.

''I was interested to see that Mr Rudd turned up with a big wad of papers and he did seem to be reading his opening and his closing statements,'' he told Gold 104 FM.

''It did strike me as a little odd, given that they were the rules, that he brought all those papers in.''

Other Coalition MPs, however, were quick to jump on Mr Rudd's use of notes on Sunday night, with frontbencher Andrew Robb taking a swipe at the Prime Minister via Twitter:

''Tony Abbott lays out a plan with conviction and without reading a note. A hugely polished and confident performance #realchange.''

On Monday morning, Coalition frontbencher Mathias Cormann told ABC Radio that Mr Rudd's use of notes ''goes to character''.

''If the rule is no notes, why was he using notes?'' Senator Cormann said.

''Last night Tony Abbott was looking like a leader, Kevin Rudd was looking like a reader. He says the election is all about trust and then he cheats in the debate.''

After the debate, a spokeswoman for Mr Rudd said that there was ''absolutely no intention'' to do anything other than comply with the rules.

''The PM arrived at [the] lectern in full view of the audience and the panel,'' she said.

''There were no objections raised at any time. We have always believed this rule is aimed at preventing the use of props.''

Mr Rudd's spokeswoman said that the Prime Minister was ''happy to debate Abbott at any time during the election campaign without notes''.

Sunday night's debate came after a week's worth of wrangling between the two major parties over how election debates would take place.

At this stage there is no announced plan for the rest of the election debates.

Mr Rudd has called for a debate each week, hosted by a different TV network. Mr Abbott has called for two community forums - one in Sydney and one in Brisbane. Mr Rudd has called for the different TV networks to host a debate in every week of the campaign.

With AAP