However, by then those who had been successful well and truly knew who they were.

Returning councillor Monica Morse was so thrilled to have taken the ninth and last spot on council that she was the only councillor who made an appearance at the proceedings.

Bathurst Regional Council general manager David Sherley was also on hand to witness the declaration by Bathurst district returning officer Stuart Evennett.

He said he would be putting the elected representatives to work straight away.

“I’m looking forward to working with the new council,” Mr Sherley said.

He said the mayoral election will take place at 5pm tomorrow, then a meeting will be held on Monday at 5pm to elect councillors to the many and varied committees council is represented on.

The first meeting of the new council will be on September 26 from 6pm.

In declaring the poll, Mr Evennett acknowledged the excellent work done by the many polling officials and his office staff. 

He said the elected candidates will represent the Bathurst region until September 2016. 

Mr Evennett said the informal vote of around seven per cent in this council election was higher than the last state election, which could have been due to confusion about the more complicated ballot paper, particularly the above-the-line and below-the-line voting.

He said it was not uncommon for people to put a one above the line, but then vote for candidates below the line as well. 

Others only listed a couple of candidates below the line instead of the mandatory five.

“Some people couldn’t follow instructions,” Mr Evennett said.

He added that those people who only voted below the line did not follow the candidates’ how to vote material, but sent their preferences in every direction.

He said, instead, it appeared they looked for the names they knew. 

Last local government election the votes were sent to Sydney for counting, but doing the counting locally this year meant a result was known much sooner.