Peter Dutton has everything to gain in tonight’s final leaders debate of this election campaign, and Anthony Albanese has a lot to lose.

That is the nature of these one-on-one contests.

They are rare opportunities for Opposition leaders to share equal status with prime ministers.

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The two men will be literally shoulder to shoulder, eye to eye on the same platform, allowing voters to measure them and their policies against each other.

In boxing terms, it puts the challenger within swinging distance of the champ and gives them a shot at the title if they can score a knockout blow.

For the incumbent, that is risky.

And that explains why Coalition strategists were surprised when Mr Albanese agreed to their request for four debates in this campaign.

They thought he might do two, or possibly three. But four seemed too big a risk for him to take.

Albanese defied that risk. And good on him.

Labor advisers say it proves the Prime Minister isn’t worried about duelling with Peter Dutton. He thinks he has the Opposition Leader’s measure.

And by agreeing to participate in all four debates, Mr Albanese also removed any chance of Mr Dutton scoring points with voters by accusing him of ducking accountability.

The PM prizes himself on being open to continuous scrutiny. He considers himself one of our most accessible prime ministers. His record of almost daily news conferences, interviews and public appearances supports that.

In comparison, Mr Dutton has been roundly criticised for being selective in the interviews he has granted prior to this campaign and for dodging both the Federal press gallery and the National Press Club.

But he has conducted exhaustive and wide-ranging news conferences on every active day of this campaign, with travelling journalists trying to stop him straying from their questions.

And tonight I’ll do my best to ensure both do that on the issues that really matter to voters.

No one wants to see a dull recitation of talking points.

There has been enough of that in this campaign already.

I’ve been out on the trail with the leaders from day one, so I could probably recite those talking points in my sleep.

When I hear them during this debate I will do my best to bring them back to the point.

There is also a role for the moderator to fact-check what is being said in real time. But there is delicate balance to this.

It is not my job to pull them up on every porky. That responsibility is primarily their own.

Their ability to jump on their opponent’s misleading statements and rebut them is the essence of debating.

And that is what I will do my best to produce tonight — a true debate.

Mark Riley is 7NEWS’ Political Editor.

You can watch the final leaders debate tonight on 7 and 7Plus from 8pm AEST (6pm AWST).