National's former coalition partners the Māori Party were wiped out of parliament, United Future's Peter Dunne had already resigned, leaving ACT's David Seymour as their only remaining friend.
"In the next few days, we will begin discussions with New Zealand First, finding common ground," English told the party faithful in Auckland last night. "We don't need to rush this process."
Jacinda Ardern's Labour Party, which won 35.8 per cent of the vote and 45 seats, will also be in negotiations with Winston Peters, hoping to form a Labour-Green-New Zealand First government.
Since becoming Labour leader just under three months ago, Ardern has taken the party to its highest result since the 2005 election. It was not as high as Labour had hoped when it set out to try to mobilise youth voters - something Ardern acknowledged last night.
"The final outcome of tonight's election won't be decided by us. It will be decided by MMP... I simply cannot predict at this point what decisions other leaders will make," she said.
Green Party leader James Shaw is hoping special votes still to be counted will give his party some bargaining power with Peters, pointing out that the two parties do have similarities in policy.
"We actually do have a lot in common and mister Peters has worked in governments right across the spectrum before," Shaw said. "Our MPs have got good working relationships with a number of his MPs."
Peters has been kingmaker, a label he despises, twice before but history is no indication of what decision he'll make this time around.
In 1996, he sided with National, working alongside prime minister Jim Bolger and later his successor Jenny Shipley, but the coalition ended badly when Shipley sacked Peters from cabinet.
In 2005, he sided with Labour, giving Helen Clark a third term as prime minister.
