CANBERRA -- Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese visited Governor-General Sam Mostyn on Friday to dissolve the federal parliament and formally call a general election for May 3.

Albanese visited the governor-general, the representative of the British monarch in Australia, on Friday morning and asked her to initiate the formal process for an election to be held on May 3 to elect members of the 48th Parliament of Australia.

It sets up a five-week campaign that will pit Albanese and his governing Labor Party against opposition leader Peter Dutton's Coalition of the Liberal and National parties.

Speaking at a press conference at Parliament House after visiting Mostyn, Albanese said that voters would "choose the way forward" at the election.

"We cannot decide the challenges that we will face, but we can determine how we respond," he said.

"Your vote has never been more important," he said.

Opinion polls have indicated that the election is set to be a tight contest.