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Election frenzy is reaching fever pitch as political pundits search for any sign that punters’ preferred date, April 12, is, in fact, the date of the poll.

Much of the current speculation is based on looking for signs that the budget, still scheduled for March 25, will not go ahead. This masthead reported last week that a budget update would be released within days in lieu of a full budget.

News.com.au today suggests that the cancellation of Expenditure Review Committee (ERC) meetings is the latest sign that the budget will not delivered on March 25, and the election will be called imminently for April 12.

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Asked about the reports on ABC’s RN Breakfast, Finance Minister Katy Gallagher hesitated before replying that three months of ERC meetings meant they had reached “the final stages” ahead of a March 25 budget.

“A lot of those decisions have been made, so it’s been a normal ERC process,” she claimed.

Asked directly if any budget meetings had been cancelled, Gallagher said, “Not as far as I’m aware”.

“I go to all of them … because of the budget scheduled for the 25th of March, you would expect a lot of that work would have been done by now in any normal budget cycle, and that’s exactly what we have followed.”