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How does preferential voting work in Australian lower-house elections?

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Map of Canada displaying the results of the 2008 federal election by province and territory, with regions shaded to indicate the leading party's share of the popular vote: blue for Conservative, red for Liberal, light blue for Bloc Quebecois, and orange for New Democratic Party. Each area is labeled with the number of seats won by each party, and a legend at the bottom summarizes national seat totals for each party. — election Canada's 2008 federal election results.

In Australian lower-house elections, the House of Representatives utilizes a preferential voting system, also known as the alternative vote.12

Under this system, voters rank candidates in order of preference on their ballot paper. The process for determining the winner works as follows:32

First Preferences: All first-preference votes are counted. If a candidate receives an absolute majority (more than 50 percent) of these votes, they are immediately elected.2
Redistribution: If no candidate achieves a majority, the candidate with the fewest first-preference votes is eliminated. Their votes are then redistributed to the remaining candidates based on the second preferences indicated on those ballots.2
Iterative Process: This process of eliminating the weakest candidate and redistributing their votes continues until one candidate secures a majority of the votes.2

This method ensures that the winning candidate has the support of a majority of voters, even in contests with multiple candidates. It also allows minor parties to exert indirect influence on policy, as the preferences of voters for losing candidates can determine the final outcome in close races.23