Factbox: How Australia would navigate a hung parliament

SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australian elections have delivered a hung parliament, sparking a race between the two major parties to form a minority government in the days ahead.

Constitutional lawyers say that the situation is likely to unfold in the following way:

* Incumbent Prime Minister Julia Gillard would have the first opportunity to form a new government, regardless of whether her Labor party or the conservative opposition wins the greater number of seats or the larger number of votes.

* If Gillard fails to win enough support from independent and Green MPs to form a government, she would visit Governor-General Quentin Bryce, representative of the British queen, Australia's head of state, and hand in her government's resignation.

* In that case, opposition conservative leader Tony Abbott would have secured the support of the cross-bench and the governor-general would call upon him to form a government.

* Before swearing in any government, the governor-general would need to be satisfied it enjoyed support from a majority of lawmakers -- namely, that it would survive a no-confidence motion -- and that it would be able to pass budget bills.

* The governor-general could require a formal document, which includes signed pledges of support for one of the major parties from the cross-benchers, before swearing in a new government.

* The big test for a new government would be the first sitting of parliament, where its strength and stability would be immediately challenged with a no-confidence motion moved by the opposition. If the motion is defeated, the government survives; if it succeeds, the government collapses.

* If the new government at any time during its term suffers a defection to the opposition and then loses a no-confidence motion, then the prime minister would hand in the government's resignation to the governor-general, who would then see if the opposition could form an alternative administration.

* If it ever appeared the new parliament could not provide a workable, stable government, fresh elections would result.

* Legal experts say the process of establishing a minority government could take several weeks to play out, with Labor and the Liberal-National opposition engaging in negotiations with the independent and Green MPs to secure their support.

* It may also take more than a month before support for the next government is tested on the floor of the parliament. The parliament must be convened within 30 days of the formal election results being delivered to the governor-general. These results could take a couple of weeks to be finalized, or even longer if there were challenges and recounts.

* Australia's last hung parliament was in 1940. However, there have been hung parliaments at state level: in Tasmania in 2010 and in Western Australia in 2008.

(Reporting by Mark Bendeich; Editing by Sanjeev Miglani)