NSW Electoral Commission staff called it a night at 12.30am after finalising the primary preferences of almost 4000 above-the-line votes cast during two weeks of pre-polling.

Bobby Bourke secured almost 30 per cent of those votes to go past incumbent mayor Graeme Hanger and into the lead.

With just over 15,000 formal votes now counted, Mr Bourke is now sitting on 2999 primary votes and Mr Hanger on 2945.

Both men have already secured a quota to confirm their places on the new council and now the interest will turn to whether their number two candidates – Jacqui Rudge (Mr Bourke) and Vince Connor (Mr Hanger) – can also win a spot in the chamber.

Warren Aubin (1602) is currently third on the overall count with Jess Jennings (1541) and Ian North (1376) next best placed.

NSW Electoral Commission staff are currently counting around 5000 below-the-line primary preferences from pre-polling and those numbers are likely to be confirmed around 1.30pm.

Solo candidates Alex Christian (currently 1054 primaries) and Nick Packham (444) are expected to do well.

On current numbers, the Western Advocate’s best guess for the make-up of the new council is Graeme Hanger, Bobby Bourke, Jess Jennings, Ian North, Warren Aubin, Alex Christian, Jacqui Rudge, Vince Connor and Monica Morse or John Fry for the final spot.

It is likely to be a full week, though, before all preferences are distributed so the final make-up remains anybody’s guess.

The leading primary votes as they stand (with below-the-line pre-polling yet to come) are:

Follow the NSW Electoral Commission count here.