Nova Scotia's ruling Conservatives and Opposition NDP are bracing for a neck-and-neck race Tuesday as voters head to the polls to elect what pundits predict will be yet another minority government.

The outcome will likely be decided by a series of slim margins in a handful of ridings, analysts observing the election have speculated.

Premier Rodney MacDonald appeared to agree with the forecast at an event in Halifax at the conclusion of the largely lacklustre 31-day campaign on Monday.

"I think there will be quite a few close ridings tomorrow night," said the former gym teacher and professional fiddler, who hopes to elevate the ruling party from minority to majority status.

"We're not taking anything for granted," said the rookie leader, who has held the post since the end of February and at 34 is the youngest premier in Canada.

The province has gained a reputation for electoral uncertainty since the last 1990s.

"Nova Scotia politics by nature has become close -- the question I think we're waiting to see answered tonight is whether this is now three-way close or more two-way close," CTV Atlantic's Steve Murphy said, appearing on Canada AM on Tuesday morning.

There have been two minority governments in less than 10 years, with the three main parties battling for leadership.

In the 2003 election, 15 of the province's 62 ridings were decided by less than 500 votes.

At dissolution, the Conservatives held 25 seats, the NDP had 15 and the Liberals 10. There was one independent and one vacancy.

NDP Leader Darrell Dexter spent Monday hitting the hustings in key ridings in the Halifax area, where the party holds most of its support.

The former journalist and lawyer acknowledged that the party will need to gain popularity in rural ridings if it hopes to attain a historic breakthrough.

"We're working very, very hard in so many of those seats where we haven't had the level of support we need to get over the top, and I think in a lot of them, we're there," he said.

David Johnson, a professor at Cape Breton University in Sydney, said that even the tiniest shift in Tory or NDP support could decide the outcome.

"Small, marginal shifts of support one way or the other can either give the Conservatives their majority or keep them back in minority," Johnson told The Canadian Press.

"The fly in the ointment is the potential collapse of Liberal support."

An opinion poll released near the end of the campaign suggests the Liberals are barely holding on to core supporters even in their traditional stronghold of Cape Breton.

"There is a sense that the Liberals who of course have been a very powerful traditional party in the province have lost faith with some of the voters," Murphy said.

"And that really this is now a two-way contest between progressive Conservatives in rural mainland Nova Scotia and the NDP, which is centred really in the Halifax metro area."

The apparent collapse of the Liberal vote in rural ridings, where it was once unimaginable the New Democrats could gain popularity, leaves open the possibility those votes will go to the NDP.

Liberal Leader Francis MacKenzie, who is the only major party leader who didn't hold a seat in the legislature, spent much of the campaign in his riding trying to shore up enough support to win a seat.

"He doesn't have a seat in the Assembly, which as you know is a great disadvantage in terms of getting on television on the evening news and getting your message out," Murphy said.

In another damaging blow to the Liberals, the party failed to field a candidate in the riding of Queens, making it the only party without a complete lineup.

But a defiant MacKenzie dismissed the critics on Monday, predicting the Liberals would take 20 seats.

"Right now, what we're focused on is winning," MacKenzie said, shrugging off questions about what's next if he fails to win a seat.

"I recognize that challenge, but if that is to happen, we'll consider it and think about our options at that point."