Carly Marriott and Sarah McNaught each drew more than 13 per cent of ballots, with only mayor Matt Hannan having a higher primary vote of 17.3 per cent.

Former Southern Riverina Irrigators chairman Ted Hatty is on 10 per cent and incumbent councillor John Taylor on 7.3.

Ms Marriott won her hometown Barooga booth with 294 of 764 votes.

She is excited about her and Mrs McNaught's election.

"I think it's great and the fact we're both mums of young kids and got our own businesses it shows this is who Berrigan Shire wants to represent them, people that are in the thick of it in life," Ms Marriott said.

Mrs McNaught, a barrister who moved to Finley from Melbourne four years ago due to marrying a truck business owner, was stunned with her endorsement.

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"Not being born and bred in the area I didn't expect to have such support in the community so it was fantastic to see so many people supporting me," she said.

"I think people were just wanting to see a change and there so many excellent females and young candidates and I think I ticked some of those boxes."

A shift in sentiment has helped Corowa designer Aaron Nicholls land a seat on Federation Council after his campaign T-shirts bore the message "Choose change".

A leader of an action group opposing a big new estate at Corowa, Mr Nicholls' team is set to join mayor Pat Bourke and fellow incumbents Andrew Kennedy and David Longley on the council.

Mr Nicholls believes the push to halt the Redlands Road subdivision played a "massive role" at the polling stations on Saturday.

"A lot of people were just storming in to get their names crossed off and when we said we were the ones who helped stop the estate they stopped and listened," he said.

"A lot of votes that would have been potentially wasted were changed."

Cr Bourke had the most popular group and it won 102 of 132 votes lodged at his hometown booth at Urana.

Cr Kennedy was similarly dominant at his native polling station at Mulwala, drawing 707 of 983 votes recorded.

Cr Longley, of Howlong, attracted 634 of 1111 ballots deposited at his local booth.

Deputy mayor Shaun Whitechurch faces a fight after his team drew 10 per cent of primary votes.

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