Coalition's election nightmare reflected in key NSW seats

For the Coalition to have formed government, several key Sydney seats and regional NSW races needed to fall its way.

But the Coalition's election nightmare was reflected across much of the state, with massive swings to Labor in must-win seats and former Liberal safe havens lost again.

Even marginal seats Labor may have privately worried about losing were retained with increased margins as the state home to the past four prime ministers turned red again.

Australia's most populous state, NSW is home to 46 seats, including three held by teal independents won at the last election (a fourth, North Sydney, was abolished at this election) and some of the most closely watched races in the country.

Here's how some of those played out.

READ MORE: Dutton booted from own seat in night of misery

Bennelong

Incumbent MP Jerome Laxale retained Bennelong for Labor despite redistribution making the seat notionally Liberal.

Laxale increased his margin with a giant swing of more than 10 per cent to Labor with nearly 64 per cent of the vote counted.

"It looks like it's in the bag," Laxale told the Nine broadcast.

"And because we're a notionally Liberal [seat], it looks like we've won it off them twice."

Laxale said his win reflected "a complete rejection of Peter Dutton and the Liberals' negative tactics".

"We've seen that they've been climate deniers for way too long, and they didn't learn the message at the last election," he said.

"They've opposed every cost-of-living measure, and they didn't learn that either.

"People around here want a government that's not divisive, that's in the middle."

Liberal candidate Scott Yung was dogged by controversy during the campaign.

Gilmore

Gilmore on the NSW South Coast, including the Shoalhaven region of Nowra, Ulladulla and Batemans Bay, was seen as another gettable seat by the Coalition.

Held by Fiona Phillips since 2019, the Labor MP prevailed in 2022 over respected former Liberal state MP Andrew Constance by just 373 votes.

But like much of the rest of the country, the closely watched seat swung towards Labor to the tune of more than 7 per cent with about 60 per cent of the vote counted.

Hunter

The seat of Hunter, which takes in Hunter Valley and some of Newcastle's outskirts, has long been a Labor seat - father and son Eric and Joel Fitzgibbon held sway from 1984 to 2022.

The younger Fitzgibbon was succeeded by towering former Olympic shooter Dan Repacholi in 2022.

The seat is coal country and the Nationals ran Sue Gilroy, a former president of the Singleton Business Chamber, to unseat Repacholi.

But it's clear Repacholi will be returned to parliament.

The seat was also the site of one of Peter Dutton's proposed nuclear reactors.

"Clearly this shows that nuclear is not on the cards here in the Hunter," Repacholi told the Nine broadcast.

"And Peter Dutton and his crew can say what they like there but the voters have now had their vote and they've had their say.

"And now that we've had this, I think they really should put this to bed and we should continue on with making sure that we're doing the best for Australia."

Suellen Wrightson, the party leader of Clive Palmer's Trumpet of Patriots and the face of many a television ad, also ran in the seat but at the time of writing had less than 4 per cent of the primary vote.

More wins for Labor

It didn't end there in the key seats, with Sally Sitou in Reid, in Sydney's Inner West, re-elected with a swing of more than 8 per cent to her, and Andrew Charlton returned in Parramatta.

The bellwether seat of Robertson was retained by Gordon Reid over former Liberal MP Lucy Wicks with a swing of nearly 8 per cent to Labor.

Liberal frontbencher David Coleman was turfed out in Banks to Labor's Zhi Soon.

Independents fared better, with Sophie Scamps, Allegra Spender and Zali Steggall all returned in Mackellar, Wentworth and Warringah.

Several seats remained too close to call tonight, including Bradfield - the formerly safe Liberal seat of retiring frontbencher Paul Fletcher.