Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has slapped down an ebullient colleague on Friday who declared his struggling coalition “an election-winning machine” as the leader wooed more independent lawmakers in a bid to cobble together a government.

A second independent lined up behind the centre-right Liberal-National coalition government as Turnbull flew south to plead personally with a third to help him return to power after Saturday’s cliffhanger election.

With that support, Turnbull’s coalition was expected to snaffle the 76 seats they needed to declare an outright victory. However the close result will leave him with a hostile upper house Senate, endangering the passage of flagship policies such as a $50 billion corporate tax break.

Industry Minister Christopher Pyne appeared to celebrate prematurely when he described the coalition as an “election-winning machine, although Turnbull later said he wasn’t claiming victory just yet as vote counting dragged into a sixth day.

“Australians have voted, we respect their decision, there are many lessons in that election for all of us,” Turnbull told reporters in Melbourne.

“We’re taking those lessons to heart very seriously and we respect the votes that have been cast, and one way we show that respect is by waiting for the counting to be completed, or completed to the point where the decision is claimed,” he said.

Turnbull’s gamble in calling an election, ostensibly to clear the Senate of what he saw as obstructive minor parties, backfired badly with a much bigger swing to the centre-left Labor opposition than expected.

It also saw minor parties and independents become even more powerful, making it less likely Turnbull will be able to push his reformist economic agenda through the upper house.

On Thursday, Standard and Poor’s cut Australia’s credit rating outlook to negative from stable, threatening a downgrade of its coveted triple A status. That came as Turnbull flew to northern Queensland state to win the support of Bob Katter, a maverick former member of the ruling conservative coalition.

On Friday, Andrew Wilkie became the second of the four independents in the lower house who may hold the balance of power to give begrudging support to the Turnbull’s coalition.

Wilkie said he would “not support a vote against … confidence in the government unless clearly warranted”, a declaration that gives Turnbull tacit support just days after Wilkie said he would not enter into a deal with either side.

“My focus now turns to doing what I can to help settle the situation down and foster stable government,” Wilkie said in a statement.

Katter and Wilkie’s support gives Turnbull’s coalition a total of 75 seats, according to the latest Australian Broadcasting Corp projections, just one shy of the 76 it needs to form government.

On a projected 66 seats and without support from any of the four independents, it was almost impossible for Labor to form government. Six seats are still being counted.

Labor has been moving to consolidate support behind leader Bill Shorten and even believes Turnbull could call another election in a bid to clear the impasse.

“We need to be prepared to go back to the polls sooner rather than later,” Labor’s deputy leader Tanya Plibersek told ABC Radio, citing the likely divided parliament.

– Reuters