Scott Morrison and Anthony Albanese’s Channel 9 debate rubbished by viewers after the leaders spoke over one another

A 2GB radio host and viewers of the second Federal Election debate, which was televised on the Nine Network, have been left frustrated by the actions of the two leaders, the voting system that crashed and the failure to moderate the fiery forum.

The second leaders’ debate between Scott Morrison and Anthony Albanese has been labelled a “joke” by frustrated viewers and criticised by a talkback radio host as “messy”.

The Prime Minister and Opposition Leader appeared on the Nine Network on Sunday night for The Great Debate, a special episode of 60 Minutes.

Mr Morrison and Mr Albanese repeatedly clashed in the heated exchange over one another’s Federal Election campaigns, including policies, and what each have said while at the helm of their respective parties.

Both were given 60 seconds each to answer questions from a panel comprising of Nine’s political editor Chris Uhlmann, 2GB host Deborah Knight and chief political correspondent David Crowe from The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald.

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But the pair went over the set time limit on a number of occasions and ignored moderator, 60 minutes reporter Sarah Abo, as she attempted to cool tensions between the leaders and stick to the rules set out at the beginning of the show.

Viewers were also able to scan a QR code on the television screen where they were able to vote for who they thought did the best on the night, however, it crashed multiple times due to an influx of visitors to the website.

For others, it simply would not scan for them to have their say.

After the proceedings had finished, Nine initially declared Mr Morrison had won 52 per cent to 48 per cent before it backflipped to announce Mr Albanese was victorious.

It then later confirmed the results were a draw from an estimated 30,000 votes.

2GB’s Ben Fordham, who is contracted to Nine, described the debate as a “shambles” and likened it to “watching two blokes at the pub arguing over the colour of carpet”.

“It was messy, it was disjointed, it was awkward, it was all over the shop,” he told his listeners on Monday morning.

“Channel 9 was not the winner, I can say that. When the TV ratings come out I think it will show that.”

He then commended News Corp Australia for how Sky News Australia and The Courier-Mail hosted the first leaders’ debate on Wednesday April 20 and the people’s forum format.

“The leaders became fearful of the worm years ago, so they stomped on it. They killed off the worm. The debates became bland,” Fordham said.

“Sky News introduced the people’s forum where voters were given the chance to ask questions, and anything could happen.

“Last night’s debate had the more traditional format with three journalists asking questions, including our own Deb Knight, and the journalists asked some good questions, but that couldn’t save the thing.”

The Great Debate was the fifth most watched show on Sunday evening with 641,000 eyeballs across the five metro cities, according to TV Tonight.

It was beaten by its own shows, Lego Masters (664,000) and Nine News (862,000), while The Voice (766,000), and Seven News (879,000), filled the other spots.

Viewers did not hold back in its criticism of the debate as they took to social media where they described it as an “embarrassment” and a “s**t show”.

“This Channel 9 debate is a joke,” one person wrote.

“It’s s**t house, weak moderation, constant interruptions,” another added.

“A grotesque omnishambles. An embarrassment for Channel 9 no matter how hard the organisations and “moderator” try to spin it. An insult to us all.”