The Prime Minister has said the marriage equality plebiscite would occur “as soon as possible” after the election.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has said the marriage equality plebiscite would occur “as soon as possible” after the election and expects it to be held by the end of the year.

The comments came during a door stop in western Sydney on Monday when a public member asked Mr Turnbull about the plebiscite.

“Given the election is on 2 July, we have ample time between then and the end of the year,” he said.  “So I would expect it to be held this calendar year.”

This is Turnbull’s most robust commitment to the plebiscite’s timeframe to date after he refused to back a prediction Attorney-General George Brandis made in March that the change to the Marriage Act would be legislated by the end of the year.

The Prime Minister’s office only guaranteed a plebiscite would occur “as soon after the election as possible.”

But the Prime Minister has cautioned that there will still be a delay in the plebiscite due to parliamentary procedure.

“[It] will be held as soon as practical, as obviously legislation has got to pass through the parliament, so all I can do is give you my commitment to hold a plebiscite as soon as we can.”

This gives the Turnbull government time to match Labor leader Bill Shorten’s promise to have a vote in parliament on same-sex marriage within 100 days of Labor being elected.

Amid concerns the plebiscite question would be misleading or favour a particular side, Mr Turnbull said he would make the question simple.

“It will be a very straightforward question, and we will be asking the Australian people whether they support the definition of marriage being extended to include couples of the same sex,” he said.

The Greens have urged Mr Turnbull to allow MPs to have a free vote in Parliament in place of the plebiscite, which has been seen as divisive, costly and unnecessary by many.

“Malcolm Turnbull’s comments today would give some Australians the inklings that we could have marriage equality realised by the end of the year – but we can do it without spending $160 million and sending people straight back to the polls after a marathon election campaign,” said Greens’ spokesperson Robert Simms.

Attorney-General Brandis said planning for the plebiscite was “well advanced.”

He said the Coalition would not suspend anti-discrimination laws for the duration of the plebiscite campaign, but the government had not yet decided whether to give public funds to the ‘yes’ and ‘no’ camps.