With only days to go until the special votes are counted and the incoming Government's secretive coalition talks raging on, the caretaker Prime Minister has been busy packing boxes in his parliamentary office. 

"We're pretty much packed and ready to go," Hipkins told The Mike Hosking Breakfast in what might be his last interview with the show as the leader of New Zealand. 

It's not clear at this stage what the next Government will look like, it's looking certain that National will be the ruling party and party leader Christopher Luxon will be the next Prime Minister, but which party he governs with is still unclear. 

The results of the special votes, along with the final count of regular votes will be announced on Friday and confirm exactly what sort of country New Zealand wants in charge. 

Until then, Hipkins said he's still got "a little bit of governing to do" in the caretaker period. 

He won't be moved out of office until the new Government is sworn in, his Labour leadership team will continue to keep things moving in the meantime. 

Yesterday, Hipkins said he attended a brief cabinet meeting - there was only one item on the agenda, which was New Zealand's response to the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas. 

"We'll consult with the incoming Government on New Zealand's position on that but the cabinet still has to meet and finalise [the country's] position, which is what we've done," said Hipkins. 

While the title is set to be stripped from him, Hipkins explained there's still a number of tasks that land on his desk - some of which people might not even be aware of. 

Among them include approving people receiving honours from overseas Governments, and "various things that keep the wheels of Government ticking over". 

But despite the work keeping him busy, Hipkins admits the transition period is a frustrating one. 

"It's a bit like purgatory, you know, you can't do much - I can't embrace the role of opposition and I can't really embrace the role of Government, so we're just keeping the home fires burning while the new Government sorts itself out."

Hosking asked why it was the country couldn't be provided regular updates on the outcomes of the special vote count in a similar fashion to the updates given on election night.

The Prime Minister said he imagined it was due to the notion that giving regular updates on the counts would slow the overall counting process down, which differs from the preliminary count which is just a quick stacking of papers. 

When final votes are counted, Hipkins said, it involves removing any duplicates and making sure everyone is on the electoral roll.

Where special votes were counted it's making sure they've been conducted appropriately, ensuring the voters filled in an enrollment form as they weren't on the roll and then removing those that didn't, so "they basically go back and start again from scratch". 

It's the difference between a rough and thorough count. 

"If you look at the integrity of New Zealand's electoral system relative to others around the world, we don't get those hotly contested elections where people say 'Oh this is an unjustified result'," said Hipkins. 

"And that's because we do it pretty thoroughly."

Concluding his interview, Hipkins was asked whether as of next Tuesday, he would be leader of the opposition or still the leader of the country. 

"Well, that's really a question for Christopher Luxon - as I said, all my boxes are packed and ready to go, just as soon as they indicate they're ready to go."