LABOR'S Jess Jennings is tucked away in Bathurst, surrounded by family and supporters, as he watches the results come in.
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It appears certain that incumbent Andrew Gee will be declared the official winner in Calare, which Mr Jennings accepts, but he will be watching the second spot in the race closely.
More than 67,000 votes have been counted in Calare, with Mr Gee having secured around 30,000.
Mr Jennings has around 15,500, while Shooters, Fishers and Farmers candidate Sam Romano has secured a little more than 11,000.
"I feel good that, regardless of how things turn out, I've given the voters of Calare a fair choice, an alternative," he said.
"I'm not certain that the Shooters [Fishers and Farmers] will take second spot at this stage. It still feels a little like early days.
"It's not going to be a massive swing away from the Nats in terms of two party preferred, but it's not impossible that we don't do much better than what we had."
He said he wasn't surprised that SFF was polling so well in Calare and said that have the party perform well was "a critical part of our path to victory".
When asked why The Nationals had such a strong hold on the electorate, he said that it seemed to be a case of east versus west.
"What will be really interesting is to see the eastern half of Calare versus the western half of Calare," Mr Jennings said.
"It seems to me that the eastern half of Calare is willing to back Labor again - a combination of a federal move for change and a reasonable local Labor candidate - whereas west of Milthorpe it seems as though Labor is not really part of the picture."
What could end up being another blow for Mr Jennings tonight is the national result, with the Labor Party not polling as well as was expected leading into the election.
The Calare candidate will be watching the results closely throughout the night and hasn't ruled out a Labor victory.
"The seats are being lost and gained in both directions, so it's not clear to me who's going to win," he said.
