Labor's vegetation management laws will go down to the wire, with the parliamentary debate having started with neither the government or the opposition sure of who had the numbers to win.
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Both sides are locked at 44 votes each, with the Katter Party MPs siding with the LNP and independents Rob Pyne and Billy Gordon joining the Labor side.
Mr Gordon signed up for the yes vote after some wobbles and a last-minute deal, which included a promise to implement a Cape York Development and Sustainability Review.
It puts independent MP Peter Wellington, who, as Speaker, only has a casting vote in the deadlocked parliament, in the position of either making or breaking the laws.
Mr Wellington has met with both sides, including a late-night discussion with Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk as the debate began, but is understood to be playing his cards so close to his chest, neither the LNP or Labor are sure of which way he will vote.
If he votes with the Opposition, Labor will have been handed its first legislative defeat in the hung parliament. But it has already begun plans to use the loss to its advantage, preparing to use it in the upcoming election campaign to shore up the green vote in vulnerable inner-Brisbane seats South Brisbane and Mount Coot-tha, and in Ferny Grove.
The joint Australian and Queensland government bid to keep the Great Barrier Reef off the UNESCO 'in danger' list, included the laws, adding strength to Labor's arguments the legislation is necessary to protect the world heritage icon.
But the LNP has accused the government of "vilifying" farmers with its proposal to tighten the restrictions the Newman government loosened upon coming to power. Both sides of the debate have marched on the streets and what was meant to be an election commitment tick-off has become one of the government's biggest headaches.
The debate is expected to dominate the final day of the parliament sitting.
