Abstract. We investigate the interplay between shape anisotropy and a stress-based uniaxial anisotropy on the magnetic domain structure of La 0.7 Sr 0.3 MnO 3 nanoelements as a function of aspect ratio, using micromagnetic simulations. We show that a direct competition between the anisotropies gives rise to high energy multidomain flux closure configurations, whilst an alignment of the anisotropies can modify the effective element dimensions and act to stabilise a single domain configuration. Our results demonstrate the ability to control the spin state of La 0.7 Sr 0.3 MnO 3 elements in addition to tailoring the domain wall width by controlling the anisotropy of the material, which is key for spintronic applications that require a high spin-polarization and stable magnetic configurations.