Melbourne's Fairfax-owned The Sunday Age did so reluctantly.

''Ultimately, in the absence of policies and detailed economic information, voter decisiveness will depend on one issue: trust,'' its editorial said.

It lauded former prime minister Julia Gillard's policy reforms, including DisabilityCare and pricing carbon.

However: ''Labor's legislative record has been strong, but it is Ms Gillard's legacy, not

Mr Rudd's. There is still a question hanging over his ability to govern.

''Mr Abbott, it must be said, has led a united, disciplined team for three years. It has been a formidable opposition. The disappointment has been its failure to provide detailed costings or step beyond slogans. Mr Abbott must offer more to an electorate seeking to make an informed choice. His decision to further delay the release of costings smacks of cynicism and arrogance and blunts his pitch for office. Therefore, it is with little enthusiasm that we say the Coalition deserves to win.''

Melbourne's News Corporation Australia-owned Sunday Herald Sun was less equivocal.

''Australia cannot afford to keep the most dysfunctional and inept government in its history,'' the paper editorialised.

''After six years in which the government has declined from the inept to the disastrous ... Mr Abbott deserves his chance and we believe he will be an outstanding prime minister.''

In Sydney, the Fairfax-owned The Sun-Herald's editorial put Opposition Leader Tony Abbott on notice to ''engage us, empower us, and prove to us that we have done the right thing'' by endorsing him.

Nonetheless, the paper could not support Mr Rudd, for what it described as Labor's ''politicking and campaigning'' for three years, ''an arduous process that has served to alienate many in the electorate and even turn some off politics altogether''.

It described federal Labor as ''negative, incoherent, incohesive and – the worst of all – uninspiring''.

''So Tony Abbott and his mostly men in blue ties should ascend to power, by default rather than ability, putting a Coalition government in charge after six years in opposition.''

And who could miss the News Corp-owned Sunday Telegraph?

The paper came under fire and was subjected to ridicule on social media on Saturday night and Sunday morning, over its magazine-style front page photograph of Mr Abbott staring at the reader before an Australian flag, above the large headline: ''AUSTRALIA NEEDS TONY''.

It pointed out, like the Sunday Herald Sun did, that it had backed Labor in the 2007 election.

But no more.

''The Sunday Telegraph believes Mr Abbott is ready to lead Australia,'' its its page nine editorial said.

''It seems an understatement to observe that the Labor-led government of the past six years has been a grave disappointment. Labor's fragile grip on parliamentary majority has created a shambolic, often comically inept administration that routinely undermines its own achievements and credibility.

''Much has been written lately about media coverage of the Rudd government – but let's cut through the spin.

''This isn't about party politics.

''It is about bad government.

''And this is a bad government.''

Deputy Labor leader Anthony Albanese described the front page as ''an absolute disgrace'', and accused those involved in the front page of breaching their journalistic code of ethics.

''If a political party wanted to engage in that sort of propaganda it would cost tens of millions of dollars, but we've had it day in, day out, that's what they've relied upon rather than serious policy debate and the costings.''

On Thursday, the Fairfax-owned national rural weekly The Land carried a front page headline ''LABOR'S EPIC FAIL'', giving the government a ''F'' grade on a range of agricultural issues, based on a survey of 1095 voters in rural areas. It said 49 per cent of people it polled intended to vote for the Liberals, and another 30 per cent would vote for the Nationals. Just 6 per cent would vote Labor, 4 per cent Independent, 3 per cent Greens and 8 per cent ''other''.