"He was treated like anybody else, there was no special treatment.

"And the treasurer professed a complete indifference, indeed an ignorance of exactly what had transpired."

"We now know that these statements were completely and utterly false."

In fact, Mr Turnbull said, Mr Swan's office was deeply entwined with the plea for assistance.

"It turns out that the case of Mr Grant was raised directly with the Treasury official, Mr (Godwin) Grech, by Mr Swan's office," he said.

"So concerned were they when they raised the matter of Mr Grant ... that they encouraged the Treasury officials to raise this matter with Ford Credit."

Mr Turnbull demanded to know how many car dealers received special treatment from the treasurer, his office and senior Treasury officials "as was the case with John Grant".

The opposition leader said Mr Swan also needed to declare how many car dealers he'd had phone conversations with to discuss their financing troubles.

He asked how many dealers were the subject of faxes sent to Mr Swan's Brisbane home.

Also, Mr Swan was asked to declare how many dealers had their telephone details handed over to Treasury officials during discussions about multi-million dollar financing deals.

Mr Turnbull asked Mr Swan to explain how many dealers were described as an acquaintance of the prime minister in meetings between Treasury officials and finance companies.

And, finally, "the treasurer must lay before the house" all emails and correspondence related to the OzCar affair, including departmental representations, "no latter than 12 noon tomorrow".

"Here we have a treasurer who has used his considerable influence to get a favour for a mate," Mr Turnbull said.

Mr Turnbull said a plan was hatched that Mr Grant's case would be taken up with Ford Credit by the Treasury at a time when Ford Credit was dependent for its own survival.

"The upshot of the meeting was duly reported that very evening to Mr Swan and to his office. According to Mr Grech, all went well," Mr Turnbull said.

He said Ford Credit said they would shut down their business if they couldn't raise $500 million from the commonwealth.

"At that point, with all of that leverage ... the case of one dealer, and one dealer alone is raised with Ford Credit. And who is it? The crony and benefactor of the prime minister, John Grant."

Mr Turnbull said if the government stuck to its ministerial guidelines, Mr Swan shouldn't, by rights, survive the affair after so "manifestly and comprehensively" breaching ethical standards.

"It is abundantly plain that everything he has said in this house about John Grant is false," he said.

"(Yet) he says that he has no obligation to step down."

Mr Turnbull believes the government is trying to create a distraction with its fixation on a purported email that was claimed to link the prime minister's office to Mr Grant's request for help.

"Talk about it as much as you like," he said.

"But you cannot escape the fact that presiding over the finances of the Commonwealth of Australia is a treasurer who has lied to this House."

"He said (Mr Grant) was treated like everybody else ... there was nobody who was treated like this, the only person who got that treatment was a ... benefactor of the prime minister."

After Mr Turnbull finished speaking, Mr Rudd moved to censure the opposition leader "for relying on, actively communicating and promoting the contents of a fake email, to attack the integrity of the prime minister and the treasurer".

Mr Rudd criticised the opposition leader for calling on the prime minister and the treasurer to resign despite not moving a censure motion in parliament.

Mr Rudd said Mr Turnbull was no longer fit to lead the coalition or ever be prime minister.

"Not only is the Member for Wentworth not fit to be leader of the opposition by his actions in this sordid Turnbull email forgery affair, he has also disqualified himself from ever being fit to serve as leader of this country," Mr Rudd said.

Mr Rudd said Mr Turnbull had been talking up the alleged email between the prime minister's senior adviser, Andrew Charlton, and Treasury "for weeks".

"The leader of the opposition has his fingerprints all over the promotion of this fake email and he knows it," Mr Rudd said.

The prime minister said when Mr Turnbull raised the OzCar affair in parliament last week "both he and the deputy leader of the opposition leant across this chamber and began shaking their fingers at Dr Charlton who sits in the adviser's box.

"That was last Monday."

Labor also says Mr Turnbull threatened Dr Charlton over the email's existence at the press gallery ball on Wednesday.

The alleged email wasn't revealed in the media until Friday.

Mr Rudd said Mr Turnbull was deeply implicated in the fake email and had tried to bully Dr Charlton at the ball.

"The question at stake here is the opposition's knowledge of this forged email and their dissemination of it," he said.

"What we have seen today is further evidence ... (from them) to brief out a false account of his attempt to intimidate and threaten my senior economic adviser."

Mr Rudd said Mr Turnbull was trying to weave a "tangled web of deceit" to carry on his attacks against the prime minister and the treasurer.

"The bottom line is this ... the leader of the opposition has been fundamentally untruthful with the Australian people on his knowledge of and use of this forged email to serve his political ends," he said.

Mr Rudd said he stood by the statement he gave to parliament on the first day the matter was raised.

"What is clear since I made those remarks is that the leader of the opposition's entire attack on me and the treasurer's integrity has been based on a forged document from the outset," Mr Rudd said.

He said he was aware Mr Turnbull had been backgrounding the media about the alleged email for weeks, but had refused to use parliament to provide the document to the Australian people for authentication.

"What do we know about the Liberal Party?" Mr Rudd asked.

"We know that this is deeply within their DNA. This is the party that gave us children overboard ... this the party that specialises in these sorts of activities."

He said Mr Turnbull had been given the opportunity to provide evidence of the existence of the email "which he has used to attack the integrity of myself and the treasurer".

"The treasurer's actions in this matter have been entirely professional and appropriate," he said.

"The leader of the opposition has no option, having raised this matter, having called for my resignation, called for the treasurer's resignation, to stand in this parliament now to offer an apology and ... resign."

Opposition treasury spokesman Joe Hockey told parliament the Australian Federal Police (AFP) had reportedly executed a search warrant on Mr Grech's house on Monday morning.

"The report goes on to say that police are now interviewing Mr Grech about the email which appears to have been concocted inside the Treasury department," Mr Hockey said.

Mr Hockey said that meant the email did exist, which contradicted what Mr Rudd declared on Friday night when he labelled it a "fake".

"Mr Grech told the (Senate) inquiry on Friday that his recollection was that a staff of the prime minister had sent an email about Mr Grant," Mr Hockey said.

"He also told the inquiry officials gave him the impression that Mr Grant wasn't the average constituent."

Mr Hockey said emerging reports from the AFP contradicted Mr Rudd's claim that no such email existed.

"The prime minister said there was no email and yet evidence today from a federal police investigation suggests that an email ... does exist," he said.

Mr Swan said all of the opposition's "resources" should be scrutinised by the AFP.

"We've just witnessed one of the weakest and most pathetic political attacks ever mounted by an opposition in this parliament," the treasurer said.

"I've seen some fairly weak attacks but today just takes the cake."

Mr Swan said Mr Turnbull had to resign because he'd been telling everyone he had a smoking gun.

"It turns out he's been in possession of a fake email," he said.

"He must pledge today to make available all of the resources used by the opposition for a police inquiry, because it is clear the grubby opportunism of the leader of the opposition knows no bounds."

Mr Swan said two dealers had more communications made on their behalf to Treasury than John Grant.

"In one case a dealer had approximately double the communications made on their behalf," he said.

Mr Swan said his office received around 130 emails from Mr Grech between October and June.

Around 80 were copied to the Secretary of the Treasury, Ken Henry.

Around 30 were marked especially for Mr Swan's attention and 20 related directly to car dealers.

"Out of all these 130 odd emails sent to my office only a handful of the emails related to John Grant."

Mr Swan said Mr Grant did not secure finance from Ford Credit.

"And when I told this house I didn't know what the outcome had been of any of those representations, I meant it. I didn't know, I didn't know," he said.

"And if I would have known, where are the rest of the emails that were supposed to have come along to justify the outrageous slurs coming from those opposite? There are none!"

Mr Swan said the government took action to prevent dealerships, particularly those in rural and regional Australia, from sinking.

"This lousy mob opposite are seeking to exploit that action and to somehow say it was sleazy," he said.

"Shame on you!" he said to the opposition, as a chorus of Labor MPs chimed in with "shame".

The treasurer said he had received regular updates from Treasury officials about the progress of the OzCar scheme.

"I was worried sick, worried sick, that some of these dealerships were going to hit the wall," he said.

Mr Swan also called for Mr Turnbull's resignation.

"What he (has) demonstrated is how reckless he is, how irresponsible he is and how he should resign," he said.

Coalition frontbencher Tony Abbott said Mr Rudd had manipulated government agencies to protect himself.

"He has used governmental organisations as agencies of political intimidation," Mr Abbott said.

"He has sooled the Australian Federal Police and the auditor-general on politicians and journalists to try and stop them doing their job."

Mr Abbott said the treasurer should reveal how many car dealers he has made personal phone calls to in relation to OzCar.

"Maybe there's a handful, but I suspect that there is just one," he said.

Mr Swan must be forced to resign if he is found to have misled parliament, he said.

"A member of parliament can squander billions of dollars, a member of parliament can run naked down George Street and survive but a member of parliament cannot mislead this place and survive."

Mr Abbott said despite Mr Turnbull's considerable sphere of influence, not even he could cook up a lie as big as ute-gate.

"I think that the leader of the opposition is a very powerful man ... but he cannot cook up the conspiracy with the Treasury, he cannot alter the Treasury's computer system," he said.

"What we are seeing is a giant smokescreen from a terrified government."