Labor's Port Stephens MP says she was not confident of retaining the seat ahead of the weekend's vote.
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But Kate Washington walked into a room full of supporters at Medowie, flanked by family, just before 8.30pm on Saturday to claim electoral victory.
"This is a huge win for the people of Port Stephens, it is a huge win for Labor in a seat that is largely conservative," she said. "The people of Port Stephens have shown they value people who are connected to community and who they can trust. It's those basic values that have seen us come back."
It marked the end of an election in what was tipped to be one of the Hunter region's most closely contested, with Port Stephens Liberal councillor Jaimie Abbott presenting as the main challenger.
As of Sunday afternoon, Ms Washington had recorded 49 per cent of the first preference votes while Ms Abbott received 40 per cent.
"I'm excited, we've got four years again to continue the hard work and to continue to support this community and continue to fight for it on every front, which is my commitment to the people of Port Stephens," Ms Washington said.
Ms Abbott said on Sunday she was proud of her campaign and "no stone was left unturned".
"We campaigned hard for many really important improvements for our community," she said.
The campaign was the centre of controversy earlier this month, when claims emerged that a Liberal party volunteer had allegedly used fake Facebook profiles to troll Ms Washington's bid for re-election.
Ms Washington said on the weekend she believed the Liberal party "lost its moral compass" during the Port Stephens campaign.
"It's been a difficult campaign and there has been a strategy employed that has been designed to undermine my credibility in the community," she said. "It has been very difficult to counter that so the environment has been very challenging."
When asked about the Facebook issue on Sunday, Ms Abbott said she found out about it the same day the revelations emerged publicly, though she would not say how.
"We never saw full details of the Facebook complaint and I understand enquiries are being made to Kate Washington to provide full information so a further response can be provided in future," she said.
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