Labor's star recruit and putative planning spokeswoman appears to have snared the inner west Sydney seat, but it has been a tight contest against the Liberal incumbent Charles Casuscelli, who had held the seat with a margin of 6.4 per cent.

Early counting showed a 10 per cent swing to McKay and the party old-timers and young Chinese Friends of Labor in the room shared none of her nervousness.

McKay told Fairfax Media she knew she would return to politics "the last time I walked out of ICAC".

The Independent Commission Against Corruption is better known for wrecking reputations than making them.

The former Newcastle MP broke down in tears in the witness box when the inquiry heard allegations that former Labor colleagues had tried to undermine her because of her opposition to a coal loader proposed by mining magnate Nathan Tinkler.

Since her decision to return to politics, Labor has championed Ms McKay as a woman of integrity.

"Politics has to be better than what it was," McKay said. "I couldn't stand on the sidelines, criticising."

"There are good people on both sides of politics," she says. "Civility in politics - that's something I feel very strongly about."

She plans to take a bipartisan approach, if elected, to bridge the divide between the community and developers.

"We have to end the planning wars," she says.

On two-party preferred, McKay was leading the Liberals' Charles Casuscelli 51.33 per cent to 48.67 per cent at the end of Saturday counting.