In a process carried out at the Ballarat election office in Learmonth Street, the councillors were confirmed for the next four-year term of council.

The full vote tally is expected to be released later today.

For now, your councillors for the next four years are as follows:

28,970 registered voters

25,532 total votes cast (23,678 formal votes, 854 informal votes)

Amy Johnson

A member of the Liberal Party, Amy Johnson was Ballarat's youngest ever councillor when she was first voted in back in 2012.

A sometimes divisive member of the previous council, Ms Johnson dominated the first preferences in her ward, gaining thousands more votes than any other candidate and easily achieving a quota.

She now sets out on her third term of council.

Last term was punctuated by her standing, unsuccessfully, for election in the Wendouree electorate in the 2018 state government elections.

Peter Eddy

One of the most high-profile of the new candidates to put their hand up for the council elections, Mr Eddy has a long history as a senior sports administrator in the city having only recently retired from his position as CEO of Basketball Ballarat.

He has gained a strong reputation for being able to attract funding from different levels of government of varying political hues, experience he hopes to put to effective use in the council chamber.

Daniel Moloney

Endorsed by the Labor party, Mr Moloney was on the previous council, where he was known as one of the more moderate and pragmatic of the elected representatives.

He was in fourth place after the first preferences votes, so was reliant on votes transferred by the proportional voting system for re-election.

He was sitting more than 400 votes behind Greens candidate Ellen Burns on first preference votes (3392 to 2931) before staging the comeback.

UNSUCCESSFUL CANDIDATES

28,114 registered voters

23,186 total votes cast (22,512 formal votes, 674 informal votes)

Belinda Coates

The first Greens candidate ever to be elected to Ballarat City Council, Ms Coates was the stand-out performer in the central ward, with a significant surge in first preference votes.

First voted in to council in 2012, Ms Coates sets out on her third term in some style, having achieved the so-called "quota" in the first round of vote counting for the first time with more than 25 per cent of votes.

Mark Harris

An outspoken independent councillor, Mark Harris is an emergency doctor in Ballarat.

One of the most unpredictable members of the previous council - his stance against the Sturt Street bike path despite being a regular cyclist being just one case in point - he will now begin his third term on council.

Voted in originally in 2008, he made a failed bid for re-election in 2012 then returned with the highest vote in 2016.

He served as mayor in 2011/12.

Samantha McIntosh

The dominant figure from the previous term, having served three of the four years as mayor, Ms McIntosh begins a fourth term as an elected Ballarat councillor.

A Liberal Party member, she is known for her strong advocacy of the city's heritage.

The last year of the previous council was marked by a significant fallout with councillors who had previously supported her, as a majority of council aligned to replace her with Ben Taylor as mayor.

UNSUCCESSFUL CANDIDATES

26,610 registered voters

23,102 total votes cast (22,356 formal votes, 746 informal votes)

Des Hudson

Comfortably the longest serving of councillors, having first been elected to Ballarat in 2002, Mr Hudson is set to break the two-decade mark as councillor in this term.

He is a serving police officer - a Leading Senior Constable - with a focus on mental health and youth services.

He has previously been a member of the Liberal Party, but was an endorsed Labor Party candidate for this election - an endorsement that he reportedly did not particularly want.

His share of the vote was sufficient to see him easily reach the required quota.

Ben Taylor

A Durham Lead resident, as well as a two-time Liberal Party state parliament candidate - a contest he lost twice to Geoff Howard - Ben Taylor was the mayor for the final year of the previous council.

During that year, he faced the challenges of a highly critical Ombudsman's report and being one of the main spokespersons for the municipality as it faced the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Tracey Hargreaves

Well known in the community, Ms Hargreaves is a yoga instructor who has run her own company - Absolute Yoga and Pilates - for the past 11 years. She has been outspoken on several council issues in the past.

A resident of Ballarat for most of her life, Ms Hargreaves lives in Delacombe with her husband and two young children. She states one priorities as breathing new life back into the CBD.

Ms Hargreaves is running as an independent candidate. In the tactical battle for votes, she worked with Ben Taylor, listing him second on her how-to-vote preferences. She has also been endorsed on social media by the North Ward's Amy Johnson.

UNSUCCESSFUL CANDIDATES

Several candidates were virtually assured of a place in council before the process began. The first preference votes were already widely known before the final calculation was made at the the election office on Learmonth Street on Friday morning.

Below, you can see the first preference votes before the final calculation.

While there are many familiar faces, the balance of this council has shifted and there will be several days of working out alliances and discussions over who will be the mayor.

A date for a statutory meeting, when the new council will be sworn in and a mayor and deputy mayor elected by councillors, is expected to be announced shortly.

See the initial first preference tallies here (not these are NOT final results and DO NOT count preferences). Preferences will be released later today.

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