It took just three hours after the polls closed for Justin Clancy to be declared the next Albury MP, but the result seemed clear as soon at the first votes started coming through, well in his favour.
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The Liberal successor to retiring member Greg Aplin was the hot favourite to retain the seat and voters turned to him as expected on Saturday.
Liberal supporters celebrated with a gathering at Brady's Railway Hotel on Saturday night.
"I feel the privilege of being Albury's community representative," he told The Border Mail after claiming victory.
"I feel the privilege and I feel the responsibility and I'm looking forward to contributing to Albury."
Mr Clancy waited for the prepoll results to come in before he was confident of a win and said the "party started" after he received a phone call just before 9pm from Labor candidate Lauriston Muirhead, conceding the election.
"It was a privilege to be on the hustings with him, he's a wonderful person," he said.
"It's been a positive and an uplifting day, particularly to see the campaign volunteers.
"They've carried me over the past two weeks and given me so much support.
"I'm just overjoyed to see them this evening."
Mr Clancy's 3-year-old daughter was one of the first to turn in for the night, but others including retiring Mr Aplin were there to celebrate the victory.
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Earlier in the day, Mr Clancy and his wife spent the day visiting polling booths across the electorate, voting at the Thurgoona Community Centre in the morning.
He will go on to serve for what appeared to be a re-elected Coalition, under Premier Gladys Berejiklian who was full of praise for Mr Clancy when she visited Albury in January.
She said she was "inspired" by his family links and genuine passion for the community.
"I've been thrilled with the really community links that Justin has, I've known about him and his activities for some time," she told The Border Mail at the time.
"I've been really impressed with his deep links to the community.
"For me, the heart and soul of our regional communities is people giving back and Justin and his family have been doing for years."
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