Labor's Leah Anderson was quietly confident of becoming Port Stephens' new mayor on Sunday, while her rivals continued to hold out hope of an upset result.
At the close of counting on Sunday, Ms Anderson had 48.33 per cent, Independent Paul LeMottee had 27.64 per cent and Save Port Stephens' Mark Watson had 24.03 per cent.
"It's an amazing time being out there talking to the community every day from 8am to 6pm," Ms Anderson said.
"I have promised the people of Port Stephens that I will care for them. I have shown that in my first term on council in my role as deputy mayor. They have put their faith in me and I am just so blessed."
Mr LeMottee said he would not concede until the pre poll vote had been counted.
"Technically you could argue that I'm in the lead because the other independent (Mark Watson) and I have about 54 per cent of the vote and we both preferenced each other," he said.
"With the large number of votes cast at pre poll everything can change."
Mr Watson, a prominent opponent of offshore wind, agreed the mayoral race was not over.
"There's still 9000 votes to count. If the Labor vote trends down a bit and everyone followed the preference directions there's a slim change either myself or LeMottee could win," he said.
Mr Watson said the high number of informal votes in each ward would have significant implications for seats on the council.
"There's still another 13,000 votes to count in east ward so I'm hopeful of getting across the line, but it will be interesting to see what happens in central ward," he said.
Local opposition to the federal government's offshore wind project did not appear to translate into a significant protest vote.
"It's a little surprising to me," Ms Anderson, who has held off backing the project until full feasibility studies have been completed," she said.
"Most rational people know that you don't make decisions without cold hard facts. It could be up to seven years of studies before we make a decision."
