Labor's Jenny Aitchison has won the seat of Maitland.
At 9.40pm the split was 62.45 per cent Labor and 37.55 per cent Liberal.
"It's fantastic," she said.
"It is a clear message that the Maitland community does not want privatisation of the electricity network, we want our public hospital to remain in public hands and we don't want broken promises.
"I spoke to 10,000 people in the last two weeks, I listened to what they wanted and Labor articulated a strong approach to this election."
Ms Aitchison celebrated with more than 80 people at Easts Leisure and Golf Club. See Monday's Mercury for a full rundown of the election and our new Labor MP.
UPDATE 9.30PM: STATE ELECTION
Mike Baird has won the state election. At 9.30pm the Coalition had 50 seats to Labor's 30.
Opposition Leader Luke Foley conceded defeat, but said Labor was clearly on the rise with an expected 10 per cent swing against the government.
"At the last election we won 20 seats. At this election, we'll finish with a number of seats in the mid 30s," he said.
UPDATE 9.20PM: MAITLAND
Liberal candidate Steve Thomson has conceded that he has been beaten by Labor's Jenny Aitchison.
"I have already rung Jenny to congratulate her," Mr Thomson said.
"It looks like the independent has taken a big chunk of our votes. We've run a campaign based on honesty and integrity and I am exceptionally proud.
"We knew it would be close. A smear campaign was run against us by the unions. People have listened to that, which is a sad thing for Maitland.
"Maitland hasn't supported the Baird government. Maitland will have an opposition backbencher as a member."
UPDATE 8.48PM: MAITLAND
Here's the latest with 26,824 votes counted.
Philip Penfold (Independent) 6180 23.04%
Jenny Aitchison (Labor) 11,706 43.64%
Steve Thomson (Liberal) 6401 23.86%
John Brown (Greens) 1738 6.48%
Tania Esposito (No Land Tax) 309 1.15%
Anna Balfour (Christian Democratic Party) 490 1.83%
UPDATE 8.25PM: MAITLAND
With eight of the 24 booths finalised the ABC is calling Maitland for Labor's Jenny Aitchison.
Their website shows an 18.8 per cent swing to the ALP away from the Liberal Party and candidate Steve Thomson.
UPDATE 8.12PM: MAITLAND
With 8190 votes counted Labor's Jenny Aitchison is powering ahead with 63.47 per cent, ahead of Liberal candidate Steve Thomson with 36.53 per cent.
UPDATE 7.55PM: CESSNOCK
Things are looking good for Labor's Clayton Barr with 65.35 per cent from 2251 votes counted.
UPDATE 7.50PM: PORT STEPHENS
With just over 6000 votes counted at Port Stephens, Labor candidate Kate Washington is ahead with 56.30 per cent over Liberal candidate Ken Jordan.
UPDATE 7.44PM: MAITLAND
Updated figures shows Labor steaming ahead.
Jenny Aitchison (Labor) - 41.91 per cent
Steve Thomson (Liberal) - 25.05 per cent
Philip Penfold (Independent) - 22.79 per cent
John Brown (Greens)- 7.54 per cent
Anna Balfour (Christian Democratic Party) - 1.76 per cent
Tania Esposito (No Land Tax) - 0.95 per cent
TOTAL VOTES COUNTED: 11, 617
UPDATE 7.40PM: MAITLAND
Independent Philip Penfold is camped up at the George Tavern with his supporters. He said the response at the polling booths was heartening, but he saw strong voter interest in the Labor party.
"In state and federal elections people are inclined to vote with the major parties," he said.
"We've had a solid response in what is a difficult campaign for an independent."
UPDATE 7.20PM: MAITLAND
We are up and running. Votes coming in from Millers Forest and Shamrock Hill show Labor's Jenny Aitchison slightly in front.
Jenny Aitchison (Labor) - 37.53 per cent
Steve Thomson (Liberal) - 32.32 per cent
Philip Penfold (Independent) - 21.21 per cent
John Brown (Greens)- 5.72 per cent
Anna Balfour (Christian Democratic Party) - 2.40 per cent
Tania Esposito (No Land Tax) - 0.83 per cent
TOTAL VOTES COUNTED: 2, 169
UPDATE 7.10PM: MAITLAND
Early information from polling booths in the city's east suggests Labor's Jenny Aitchison is the front-runner for Maitland. The struggle for second place looks to be shared between independent Philip Penfold and Liberal's Steve Thomson.
UPDATE 7PM: MAITLAND
About $141 million worth of promises were made to the seat of Maitland in recent weeks.
The two major political parties vying for government, Labor and Liberal, have thrown millions of dollars of election commitments at Maitland during this state election campaign.
New schools, revamped facilities for youth, road works and a hospital have been promised.
UPDATE 6.30PM: MAITLAND
Within hours we should know who will take over the state seat of Maitland from Robyn Parker.
Scandal rocked the state government in 2014 and forced Maitland MP Robyn Parker, Liberal Party member, to reconsider her political career.
Ms Parker announced her retirement in October, able to hold her head high, untouched by the Independent Commission Against Corruption inquiry that saw many of her Liberal colleagues in the Hunter resign after being embroiled in scandal.
UPDATE 6PM:
The polling booths are now CLOSED!
The votes, 53,493 in Maitland, will be counted and we will keep you up-to-date with the results coming out of the NSW Electoral Commission's virtual tally room. Refresh this web page in your browser to get all of the updates.
Figures released by the electoral commission showed one in four people lodged pre-poll votes. A number of these votes will not be added to tallies until Sunday, which means some results won't be finalised until tomorrow.
UPDATE 5.10PM: MAITLAND
There is less than an hour to go at the polling booths. We went out and about today to get involved with the election frenzy. Check out all of the photographs in our gallery at the top of the page.
The question of the day is who will win the seat of Maitland?
We asked you back in February and the results were clear, but will these match up to the election day voting tally?
Now it is a waiting game while the votes are counted.
UPDATE 4.40PM: STATE NEWS
To Twitter now and both Mike Baird and Luke Foley documented their own visits to the polling booths.
NSW Premier Mike Baird and his wife Kerryn cast their votes at Queenscliff surf club in Sydney.
Baird's family were also involved in the election day frenzy. His mother, brother and father, former politician Bruce Baird, handed out how-to-vote cards for the Premier.
New South Wales Labor leader Luke Foley and his wife Edel voted at Concord West Public School, Concord West. Interestingly, Foley couldn't vote for himself because he doesn't live in his electorate of Auburn.
UPDATE 4.20PM:
There is little more than 90 minutes left before polling booths close. Let's take a look at the betting odds for the election.
Sportsbet has the Coaltion at $1.01 while Labor sits at $21.
The bookmaker was so sure of a Coalition win it paid out punters four days ago.
UPDATE: 3.50PM: PORT STEPHENS
Voters in Raymond Terrace, Butterwick, East Seaham, Nelsons Plains, Seaham, Wallalong and Woodville fall into the electorate of Port Stephens.
Sitting Liberal MP Craig Baumann was booted out of the party after last year’s ICAC inquiry. This year's election is full of new faces and is forecast to be a much tighter race than previous years.
If you are voting in Port Stephens your candidates are:
Joe Shirley - No Land Tax
Peter Arena - Christian Democratic Party
Kate Washington - Country Labor
Ken Jordan - Liberal
Rochelle Flood - The Greens
UPDATE 3.30PM: UPPER HUNTER
George Souris, the Nationals stalwart, has held the seat since 1988 but announced his retirement late last year.
Subsequently, the door has been opened to new challengers and there will be a lot more interest in how this year’s race turns out.
If you are voting in the Upper Hunter your candidates are:
Lee Watts - Independent
Richard Stretton - Christian Democratic Party
John Kaye - Greens
Martin Rush - Country Labor
Michael Johnsen - The Nationals
UPDATE 3.15PM: CESSNOCK
Cessnock has been a Labor stronghold since 1913, only leaving Labor’s hands for a three-year term when Barry Unsworth’s crackdown on gun laws put Labor on the nose with voters at the 1988 poll.
If you are voting in Cessnock your candidates are:
Jessica Price-Purnell - The Nationals
Julie Johnson -Christian Democratic Party
Domenic Loprieato - No Land Tax
Lindy Williams - The Greens)
Clayton Barr - Labor
UPDATE 2.45PM:
Some talk online of the sausage sizzles on offer across Maitland's voting locations. One of our Twitter friends pointed us to this great sausage sizzle moment in history - Gough Whitlam in shirt sleeves barbecuing at Morpeth in 1975. The former Australian Prime Minister looks like a natural, take a look.
UPDATE 2PM: MAITLAND
Maitland residents head to voting booths across the city today to decide who should represent them in state Parliament for the next four years.
Six candidates are jockeying to become the next Maitland MP.
They include independent Philip Penfold, Labor candidate Jenny Aitchison, Liberal Steve Thomson, Greens representative John Brown, No Land Tax Party candidate Tania Esposito and the Christian Democratic Party’s Anna Balfour. Want to find out more? Meet the candidates here.
THE FACTS:
Four of the seven Maitland MPs who have served the region in the past 50 years have been Liberals, most recently Robyn Parker who won the seat in 2011.
Three Maitland MPs have belonged to the Labor party during the past 50 years. John Price became Member for Maitland in 1999 and served until 2007, when Frank Terenzini took his place. Mr Terenzini was Maitland MP until 2011.
VOTING:
Optional preferential voting is used to elect members of the NSW lower house.
To cast a valid vote, boxes on the ballot paper must be numbered in order of the most preferred candidate, number one, to the least preferred.
This election, voters only have to number one box, but can number as many as they want.
Voting booths will be set up between 8am and 6pm at 22 sites across the electorate.
WHERE TO VOTE
People can vote at Bolwarra Public School, Bruce Street Community Hall, East Maitland Public School, Gillieston Public School, Largs Public School, Lochinvar Public School, Maitland Church Of Christ, Maitland High School and Maitland Town Hall.
Polling places will also be set up at Metford Public School, Millers Forest Public School, Morpeth Uniting Church, Nillo Infants School, Rutherford Playtime Pre-School, Rutherford Public School and Shamrock Hill Multi-Purpose Centre.
Somerset Sporting Complex, St Paul’s Parish Hall, Telarah Public School, Tenambit Public School, Thornton Public School, Woodberry Public School will also have voting facilities.
