The CDP doubled its vote, and said it had out-polled the Greens in seven NSW seats, on the back of an election campaign that targeted Chinese Christian churches with opposition to the Safe Schools program and same-sex marriage.

But CDP federal director Greg Bondar said his office hadn't authorised controversial Chinese messages that spread across the social network WeChat and were handed out at a booth in Bennelong. One arrived in his letter box.

"I don't want this kind of stuff coming out when a plebiscite is on, without any control, because it then does become dirty, it becomes a bit of a slinging match," Mr Bondar said.

He said a plebiscite must be contested on "sound, logical argument". "If it gets out of hand, then we've all lost it," he said.

Labor Senator Penny Wong said this week the Bennelong flyer, which likened homosexuality to a "death curse" and warned of rape in toilets, was an example of the hatred a plebiscite would unleash.

Fairfax Media has traced one WeChat message circulated in NSW, which included the CDP's How to Vote preference guide, and claimed the "gay movement" was targeting kindergarten children, to a marketing company that distributed it to 12,000 people.

Australian Eye Media generates revenue from paid content from businesses wanting to reach Chinese Australians on WeChat, but manager Keith Jin said the anonymous How to Vote message was distributed for free.

He said he had received an email from the author, who didn't disclose his full name but said he was a young Christian who believed Labor's policy on same-sex marriage was "intolerable".

Mr Jin is a permanent resident but not an Australian citizen, so he doesn't vote. He said many Chinese people were unaware of the rules on identifying the source of election material because "normally Chinese people don't vote".

In Bennelong, Labor candidate Lyndal Howison says she "observed a man in a CDP vest directing the lady handing out the flyer" at a polling booth.

When Ms Howison said the Safe Schools program was launched by Tony Abbott, not Labor, she said the woman became aggressive and said, "That's not right, its on the internet".

CDP leaders sought to mobilise Chinese Christian churches in marginal Sydney seats during the election.

In one church speech, translated into Mandarin, the party's NSW president Ross Clifford said churches would be unable to say "no" to hiring a gay married pastor, and around the world Christians were being drummed out of jobs and dragged before tribunals.

He also said the Safe Schools program was "an abomination to God", and extended to four-year-olds.

Professor of Sociology at the University of Technology, Sydney, Andrew Jakubowicz, said the three marginal seats that defied the NSW swing to Labor all had large Chinese communities.

"There are some very fierce underground Chinese churches," he said.

"With the plebiscite either coming or not coming, the churches, temples, synagogues and mosques are all going to be very active sites of organising around these issues."

Hong Kong has changed its district election rules to include social media messages as political advertising if they promote or prejudice a candidate. Britain's Electoral Commission has recommended authorisation be required for internet material.

Australian Electoral Commission guidelines only refer to printed How to Vote cards as needing to identify a source.