The informal vote was 17.6 per cent in Port Stephens' west ward, up from 9.8 per cent at the previous election, after 41 per cent of ballots were counted on Saturday.

More than 14 per cent of ballots were informal in Newcastle's ward four, up from 7 per cent in 2017, and informal voting in ward three doubled to 12.4 per cent.

But the proportion of informal voting in mayoral ballots was down in Newcastle and Port Stephens.

NSW banned volunteers from handing out how-to-vote cards within 100 metres of polling booths to help prevent the spread of COVID-19.

Instead, parties relied on how-to-vote instructions on posters or social media.

Newcastle Greens candidate John Mackenzie said the high informal vote reinforced the value of how-to-vote cards.

"There seems to have been confusion about above-the-line and below-the-line voting," he said.

Support for controversial Newcastle councillor Allan Robinson collapsed after he opted to contest the election as an ungrouped independent candidate in ward four.

His supporters had to assign a second below-the-line preference to another candidate or their votes would be ruled informal.

It is not known how many votes intended for the former jockey have been ruled out, but he has attracted a miserable 1.3 per cent of the 10,800 ballots counted so far.

In Lake Macquarie, independent Rosmairi Dawson attracted 12 per cent of the mayoral vote but only 2.7 per cent of ballots in west ward, where she was also ungrouped and relying on correct below-the-line ballots.

Lake Macquarie Liberal candidate Jason Pauling said the number of people voting informally as a protest also appeared to have risen.

"Maybe everyone was disillusioned," he said.

"There was more chatter about voting informal.

"It's harder to muck up voting in council elections than it is in state and federal."

Maitland mayor Loretta Baker said preferences, which could prove decisive in the city's tight mayoral race, were unpredictable this year due to the COVID-related changes.

She mailed how-to-vote cards to every household in the city but said it was a waiting game to see how well that translated to the ballot box.

"I don't know how many people followed our preferences," she said.

"I hope that they did preference."

Incumbent Singleton mayor Sue Moore said she understood the number of informal votes spotted by scrutineers was "ridiculous".

"I think some of that comes down to us not being able to hand out really on election day," she said.

"There was a lot of people, particularly older people, who were looking for how-to-votes."

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