The Coalition led Labor by $59 million, reporting $137 million in receipts in 2013/14 (compared with $81.4 million in 2012/13). Labor reported $78.2 million in revenue (up from $54.8 million) and the Greens $21.4 million (up from $8.1 million).

The Australian Electoral Commission released annual returns for 2013/14 on Monday, showing the Liberal Party's national arm attracting the most contributions from the corporate sector, including a single donation of $250,000 from colourful British businessman and Conservative Party peer Lord Michael Ashcroft.

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The most generous contribution to a major party came from a China-based donor called "Zi Chun Wang", who gave two donations totalling $850,000 to Labor. Google and news archive searches do not produce results for this name, suggesting Wang operates under another name.

The donation returns list Wang's address as in Shijiazhuang, the largest city of China's Hebei province, 260 kilometres south-west of Beijing.

Labor also received $635,000 from Kingold Investments, the property development company owned by Chinese donor Chau Chak Wing, who has poured millions of dollars into the coffers of both major parties.

The largest donor to the Liberals was long-time supporter Paul Ramsay, the late private hospital operator. Paul Ramsay Holdings donated $600,000 to the Liberal Party in 2013-14.

Fairfax Media reported in December that a decision by Treasurer Joe Hockey not to proceed with a promised tax-avoidance measure on multinational companies had followed strong lobbying by Mr Ramsay. He argued that it would make it more expensive for Ramsay Health Care to use debt to invest in Europe.

Tobacco giant Philip Morris donated $93,000 to the Coalition and $35,000 to the Liberal Democratic Party of crossbench senator David Leyonhjelm, who has used Parliament to defend the rights of smokers and described the latest increase in excise on cigarettes as "flagrant theft". The Liberal Party no longer accepts donations from tobacco companies.

Senator Leyonhjelm donated $30,000 of his own money to the party.

The Liberals massively increased their lead on Labor in the revenue-raising stakes in the last financial year, raising $1.60 for every dollar raised by the ALP. This compares with $1.33 for every ALP dollar in 2012-13 and $1.11 in 2011-12.

The Greens raised 27 cents for every ALP dollar and the Nationals raised 15 cents.

The Greens' coffers also received an enormous boost last financial year. They declared total receipts worth $21.4 million, 2.6 times as much as the previous year. This was by far the biggest year-to-year increase of the major parties.

Anna Milanowicz, the wife of internet entrerpeneur and NBN Co board member Simon Hackett, donated $400,000 to the Greens.

The other parties increased their receipts by between 40 and 70 per cent.

The biggest donation from an individual to the Liberal Party was $250,000 from Lord Ashcroft. The life member of the House of Lords once donated $1 million to the Liberals, the biggest individual donation in the financial year 2004/05.

In 2010, the former deputy chairman of the Conservative Party, who divides his business between Britain and the tax haven Belize, admitted he did not pay tax in  Britain on his foreign earnings.

In the British press, Lord Ashcroft's business style has been compared to fictional corporate raider Gordon Gekko.

Akira Investments, a Monaco-based company run by television pioneer Reg Grundy, donated $50,000 to the Liberal Party on top of $200,000 the previous year.

Palmer United declared $28.8 million, but nearly $26 million of that was contributions from Clive Palmer's own companies, including Queensland Nickel and Mineralogy.

Entertainment company Village Roadshow, which has lobbied strongly for a crackdown on online piracy, donated a total of $557,419, with $329,919 to the Liberal Party and $227,500 to Labor.

Academic and climate-change sceptic Ian Plimer donated $97,500 to the Coalition, AEC returns show

Hancock Coal Infrastructure, a company owned by billionaire Gina Rinehart, donated $25,000 to Julie Bishop's re-election campaign in Western Australia.

Political parties and donors were only required to disclose donations of more than $12,400 in 2013-14, although numerous donors and some parties, including Labor and the Greens, declare smaller donations for transparency reasons.