Ballarat has become a safe Labor seat with incumbent Catherine King taking victory comfortably, despite Labor conceding defeat nationally.
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In her seventh successful election since taking the seat in 2001, Ms King was sitting on a margin of 12.5 per cent late Saturday night. With around 75 per cent of Ballarat vote counted, the Labor incumbent had a swing towards her of 4.35 per cent.
But at 11.35pm, Bill Shorten conceded defeat in the federal election and stepped down as the Labor Party leader.
She said she believed local infrastructure promises and the "positive campaign" run by the Labor Party, including funding for schools and hospitals, was the key to her improving the Ballarat margin.
Making local promises has been really important, from Her Majesty's - an icon - to sporting facilities to ensuring we actually continue to grow our economy," she said.
"We have always been saying its an incredibly tight contest. I think many people, when you live in Victoria and you see it's a stronger Labor state, you see that somehow the rest of the country is like that.
"Obviously I have the opportunity to travel in my shadow health responsibilities to other parts of the country and it's always been really close. So not at all surprising."
If she completes her term, Ms King will become the Ballarat electorate's longest serving member. Liberal politician Dudley Erwin spent 20 years as the member for Ballarat from 1955.
She said throughout her term, she was most proud of the creation of the Ballarat Regional Integrated Cancer Centre of 2013, when Labor was in power federally.
I remember when I first ran, people said, 'Oh Ballarat will never elect a woman.' And here I am, a while later.
- Ballarat MP Catherine King, who has been the incumbent since 2001.
"The hundreds of people that have been treated in that cancer centre today would not have been able to without that investment," the shadow health spokesperson told The Courier.
"It is an honour, having been the first woman to hold the seat."
Ballarat Trades Hall secretary Brett Edgington was stationed at Labor HQ throughout the night and said many of those in the room knew it would be a tighter result than exit polling vaunted.
"But I'm feeling reasonably apprehensive about the national result, we knew it was going to be more complex than expected," he said.
As of late Saturday night, Labor had a swing towards it of around two per cent in Victoria, but federally both federal Labor and Liberal parties had a swing against them, with independents and minor parties picking up more votes.
