The 2016 federal election appears to be inching towards a hung Parliament. So what does that mean?

To gain the majority needed to form government, one of the major parties needs 76 seats in the House of Representatives, or the Lower House, which has 150 seats in total.

If neither of the major parties, the Australian Labor Party or the Liberal-National Coalition, reaches that magic number, the result is a hung Parliament. This is rare in Australian federal elections but quite common among states and also in other countries.

It most famously happened at the federal level in 2010 – but that was the first time for the federal Parliament in almost 70 years.

The key is the Lower House because that is the house in which a party must hold a majority to form government, according to Australia's constitution. It's rare for a governing party to also hold a majority in the Senate or Upper House. It is normal that governments need to win the support of minor parties and independents - known as the crossbench - in the Senate.

There are various ways to resolve a hung Parliament, but the most common at the state level and the solution in 2010 was for one side to strike a deal with minor parties and independents for a basic degree of ongoing support.

The leader of that party can then assure the Governor-General that they are able to function as a government. Julia Gillard struck a deal with the Greens, Tony Windsor, Rob Oakeshott and Andrew Wilkie to do this.

But the minor parties and independents need not back every piece of legislation the minority government introduces, making it a difficult and unstable way of governing.

Making the situation tricky, both sides have ruled out doing a deal with the Greens.

If neither side can strike a deal for basic support in the House of Representatives, a fresh election will likely have to be called.

But most likely one side or the other would find a way to wrangle that crossbench support. It won't make for an easy three years, however.

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