MONICA Morse called it “companionable”, Steve Semmens said it had been “excellent”, Ian North described it as “really positive” and John Fry had “really enjoyed it”.

Two weeks of handing out how-to-vote material might have been a hard slog for candidates contesting Saturday’s Bathurst Regional Council election, but they remained in high spirits as the finish line came into sight on Friday afternoon.

Returning officer Stuart Evennett said the numbers through pre-polling were likely to be slightly down on the last council election in 2012, but he still expected around 10,000 people to have cast their vote by 6pm on Friday.

That’s around 35 per cent of the region’s 29,241 registered voters and the counting of those pre-poll votes on Saturday night will provide the first real indicator of how this election will play out.

While the top-polling candidates will have their places on council confirmed on Saturday, it’s set to be a long wait for the rest next week as preferences are distributed to decide the remaining spots.

Jess Jennings said he had noticed a big lift in his recognition among voters since the first time he ran for council in 2012.

“We’ve definitely been getting good feedback,” he said.

“I’m getting around 40 per cent voter recognition and about 30 per cent in me as someone they might vote for. About 10 per cent seem interested in me as their first choice.”

Dr Jennings said he expected the first six council spots to be filled quickly once counting starts.

“Then it will be tight race for the last three positions and ultimately those last three positions will determine who is mayor,” he said.

Solo candidate Nick Packham also said his profile had increased since he contested the 2012 election.

“I’ve enjoyed talking to people and hopefully I’ll do well,” he said.

“My feeling is that people are really wanting to think about their vote and choose for themselves who they want on council.

“I think there will be a good percentage voting below the line.”

Mr Fry, The Greens’ lead candidate, said his ticket members had held a lot of meetings with local groups in recent weeks, including business people, truck company owners, arts groups and representatives of the indigenous community.

“Some feedback has been very positive and saying it’s The Greens’ time but there’s another percentage who totally ignore us and can’t really explain why they don’t like The Greens,” he said.

Cr Morse said the candidates had all got on well during pre-polling.

“People have been really respectful and happy to help each other,” she said.

“I’ve found a lot of voters have been impressed with Laura Cole on my ticket and overall they’ve liked that we’ve had a mix of the old and the new.”

Bobby Bourke, who topped the vote at pre-polling last time, believes he will poll even better this year.

“I think this has been my best pre-polling of all the elections I’ve done,” he said.

“This booth will be one of my best when the results come out.

“I’ve had the opportunity to speak to a lot of residents about their concerns and I will follow those up when hopefully I get back on council.”

Cr North said he had been impressed with the overall standard of candidates.

“We have 40 good quality people running for council,” he said.

“I’m very much looking forward to the next council and I hope to be part of it.”

First-time candidate Mr Semmens said he had had a “great time” at pre-polling.

“It’s been fantastic just meeting different groups of people from Bathurst,” he said.

“I’m looking forward to the result. It’s been a really interesting process.”