Previous mayor Des Hudson will retain his seat on south ward, along with fellow incumbent Jim Rinaldi and newcomer Ben Taylor, pushing out Peter Innes.

In north ward, Amy Johnson was clearly in during the first preference counting, beating the other eight candidates by several thousand votes.

She is joined by retired farmer, harness racing racing board officer, business owner and transport operator Grant Tillett and former head of V/Line’s marketing and communication team and Ballarat business owner Daniel Moloney.

Incumbent north ward councillors Vicki Coltman and John Philips have lost their seats.

In central ward, former mayor and Ballarat doctor Mark Harris has been elected with strong support and 6077 first preference votes. He will be joined by incumbents Belinda Coates and Samantha McIntosh, with Glen Crompton losing his seat.

An induction will be held this week for new councillors before an official swearing in ceremony on November 7.

Then, the nine councillors will decide on a new mayor in the coming weeks.

Cr Harris said he wasn’t expecting such a strong show of support, particularly because he wasn’t aligned to a political party.

He also said he planned to be “loud and proud” with his views, rather than always trying to reach consensus.

“The thing I think I’ll do differently this time – in the past council having one view was seen as a strength...in fact over time I’ve changed my mind entirely on that and I think diversity is the key.”

The next four years promised to be busy, according to Cr Hudson, particularly in terms of looking at the council’s expenditure.

“We need to look at the implications of rate capping across our community. In terms of our overall dollar spend, we’ll need to review that in terms of service delivery.

“It’s time for this group of nine people to come together as we build a council plan and set a budget around that. It will be an interesting time to hear their views.”