Cr Fraser, of Labor, served as a councillor for 12 years, before being elected to the top job.

She said her values had been shaped around her upbringing in a small country town.

“I know what it’s like to grow up with a family that didn’t have much,” Cr Fraser said.

“I care about people and like to help people. I like to go into bat for what you’d call the underdog.”

Asked if she’d stand up to the council bureaucracy, she said: “I think we have a good council. Obviously, it’s a very large organisation.

“Coming from a background of management, I have strong leadership. I will be standing up for the people and I will be doing what’s right for the city.”

She reiterated that there was “no proposal by Labor to ask for another rate rise [above inflation]”, when the existing seven-year hike expires in 2018-19.

Cr Fraser won 45 per cent of the mayoral vote, which she said was a swing of more than 12 per cent to Labor.

Liberal Jason Pauling and Independent Laurie Coghlan won 20.24 per cent and 20.17 per cent of the mayoral vote respectively.

Cr Pauling was pleased with the Liberals’ performance.

“We have solidified and improved our position,” Cr Pauling said.

He expected himself and his Liberal colleagues Nick Jones and Kevin Baker to be elected as councillors.

Cr Fraser criticised the Liberals on election night for a “disgraceful” campaign for sending text messages to voters, saying Labor wanted to take away their weekly garbage bin collection. 

Cr Pauling said he was disappointed with this comment because “we ran a very straight campaign”.

“We have highlighted current policy, which is that general purpose bins will go fortnightly in the very near future. That’s not scaremongering, that is a fact,” he said.

Cr Pauling added that “we had ALP heavyweights go after us personally”.

As for the final makeup of the council, both parties said it was too early to say because postal and pre-poll votes had not been fully counted and preferences had not flowed.

But as the vote stands, Labor would have six councillors [including the mayor] and possibly a seventh – which would be a majority.

The Liberals would have three councillors. 

The Independent Lake Alliance, which once dominated the council, could drop from four councillors to one. A new group, Lake Mac Independents, could have two and possibly three councillors.