By Karen Middleton

Alan Carpenter is a glass-half-empty kind of guy, or at least he is at the moment.

Five weeks after he called a snap election six months early, the Western Australian Premier is wearing the face of a bloke who thinks it's just about all over. And not just the campaign.

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After voting this morning with wife Annmarie, a weary Mr Carpenter gave the gathered media his final thoughts on the campaign. WIth his bravado less than it was yesterday, he made a point of thanking the volunteers - on all sides of politics - who always give so much to get people elected.

"They’re incredible," he said, and then paused, sucking in a breath as his voice almost cracked. "It’s amazing when you get the support you get from all the volunteers. They’re wonderful people."

Mr Carpenter wasn't prepared to detail his regrets this morning but it's clear there are some. Labor sources say some of his confidantes advised him, months ago, to go to the polls immediately to capitalise on the complete debacle that was the Liberal Party under the then leader and one-time woman's chair sniffer, Troy Buswell. He waited, instead calling the poll a day after the Liberals switched to an old and tried leader, Colin Barnett. The tactical mistake may have cost him government.

Today, in the blue-ribbon beachside suburb of Cottesloe, Mr Barnett was looking like a man who couldn't quite believe he was where he was, let alone where he might be tomorrow.

When it was suggested to him that he must be feeling like he was in a parallel universe, he laughed with just a trace of stunned acknowledgment. He was leader four years ago when a series of campaign blunders, from the kooky canal-from-the-north proposal to a policy costings mistake, robbed him of victory in a battle with then Labor premier Geoff Gallop.

The morning after, he made coffee for journalists hovering at his home and declared that that was that for him in politics, and he'd probably think about another career.

Since then, three other Liberals have stumbled through the revolving WA leadership door and been spat out again. Now Mr Barnett, who hung around and became the last man standing, finds himself back there again.

Today, he was "thrilled" with the campaign his team had run.

"We have run a positive campaign on the issues that matter," he said this morning.

Back at Coolbellup Community School in his own seat of Willagee, Alan Carpenter was philosophical.

"You can only do your best, you can only do your best," he said. "Honestly. And I’ve done my best."

And asked to name his first priority if he got across the line tonight in what's being billed as a cliffhanger, he turned to the woman standing to one side.

"Kiss my wife," he said, laughing like a man who intended to do that, either way.