How it happened:
10:54pm: The Mood in the room as Barnaby Joyce claims victory
BARNABY Joyce got a rock star reception from the Nationals faithful as he walked on stage to declare victory.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Standing next to his wife and daughters, Mr Joyce punched the air as the crowd chanted his name.
"At this point in time it doesn't look like we need to go to preferences, we are ahead," he said.
"We have never taken anything for granted. We have a vision for New England - we have the belief and we put the money on the table to do it."
Mr Joyce was humbled by his "incredible" Nationals volunteers - his "killer canaries" in yellow.
"They sit out there and they campaign, they just campaign in every street, every corner, every farm to make sure our nation is represented by people humbled enough to put the people first,"
- Mr Joyce said.
"No individual wins - a team wins, this victory is not mine, it is yours."
Mr Joyce was gracious in victory, thanking his opponents for a "well fought campaign" and said he didn't hold anything against them.
"Overwhelming everywhere we went, they were decent people, doing a decent job, trying to bring about a decent outcome for their nation," Mr Joyce said.
"I would like to reach out to them and congratulate them for a hard day's work."
10:48pm: On the national scale, the federal election is coming to a nail-biting end and it still too close to call.
10:44pm Numbers crunch:
It's been three-and-a-half hours since the polls closed and this is how our candidates have fared so far:
Barnaby Joyce has held the majority of the votes at 51 per cent on Saturday night, with Independent candidate Tony Windsor at almost 29 per cent.
Labor candidate David Ewings held on with 7.5 per cent of the primary vote followed by Independent candidate Rob Taber and Mercurius Goldstein of the Greens at three per cent.
David Mailler of the Country Minded party received 1.45 per cent of the vote and Stan Colefax from the Christian Democrats was placed at 1.42 per cent.
Independent Philip Cox and Online Direct Democracy's Robert Walker received about .90 per cent.
10:41pm: In Maranoa, Lib/Nationals' David Littleproud comfortably holds lead with 66.86 percent of the vote over Labor's Fave Kerrigan. Pauline Hanson's One Nation polling well in third. Katter's Australian Party, Greens and Family first collect less than 3000 votes.
10:39pm: In Parkes, Mark Coulton extends his lead to hold 65.5 percent of the vote over Labor's Kate Stewart. Greens, Christian Democratic Party and Online Democracy trailing with under 5000 votes.
10:32:pm: Barnaby Joyce thanks Johnny Depp for advertising in live address. Joyce is holding 58 percent of the vote.
10:31pm: In live address, Barnaby Joyce says the possibility of a hung parliament is a "complete hypothetical".
10:23pm: Windsor all but concedes in media address. Read the full story here.
9:55pm: Barnaby Joyce claims victory in New England, as vote count continues Read the full story here.
9:47pm: The Dungowan vote has just come in. Barnaby Joyce is holding 57.9 percent of the vote. The bulk of pre-poll is waiting to drop.
9:35pm: Senator John 'Wacka' Williams claims Barnaby Joyce has won New England election. Williams is speaking now.
9:30pm: The pre-polls are starting to come in.
9:15pm: Tony Windsor has not conceded but said it is unlikely that he will win.
9:08pm: David Littleproud is on the cusp of claiming 67 percent of projects two candidate preferred vote in Maranoa. He is currently holding 66.88 percent.
9:02pm: There are a few smiles and lots of chatter in the Windsor camp, with sandwiches being eaten in Tamworth campaign office. Word on the street is Barnaby Joyce will come out of West Leagues Club in Tamworth to address the media within the hour.
9:01pm: Reports in that a Mayo candidate has conceded by tweeting.
8:57pm:
8:54pm: The same could be said of Parkes, where Mark Coulton is leading Labor's Kate Stewart. Coulton is holding 65.38 percent of the projected two candidate preferred.
8:52pm: It's might be a two horse race between Barnaby Joyce and Tony Windsor, with only 22 polling places to go in New England, but a few key centres are still to come.
8:50pm: Barnaby Joyce has clenched 57.33 percent of projected two candidate preferred vote over Tony Windsor as Tenterfield count comes in.
8:42pm: Pauline Hanson's One Nation party polling strongly in Maranoa. Holding third place in the running on 7556 votes.
8:31pm: 63 percent of Parkes vote is in. Mark Coulton is a length ahead at 60.65 percent of the vote.
8:28pm: Significant Tamworth voting centre count, TRECC, has come through but only marginally advanced Barnaby Joyce. He is holding 56.81 per cent of projected two party preferred vote.
8:25pm: Barnaby Joyce has jumped ahead as Manilla Town Hall count comes in. He is now holding 22,160 votes to Tony Windsor's 13,112.
8:19pm: First poll votes in favour of rescinding senate voting changes.
8pm: Barnaby Joyce's home vote at Woolbrook yet to come in. Vote from Tony Windsor's polling place, Werris Creek, gave him a bump up.
7.50pm: Sky News makes early call for Barnaby Joyce victory, but three-quarters of the vote is yet to come in.
7.44pm: Pauline Hanson's One Nation Party on the rise in Maranoa, with swings of 19.44 per cent in favour. Lib/Nationals' David Littleproud still leading on 12,405 votes.
7.42pm: Barnaby Joyce is just holding more than 50 per cent of the vote, but two percent swings away continue.
7.40pm Brief:
ALL is quiet in the Windsor camp as Mr Windsor and his supported continue to watch and monitor the polls.
One of Mr Windsor's advisors has told us Mr Windsor is "focused."
Election night at Mr Windsor's campaign office is a casual affair, with volunteers manning a sausages sizzle and all eyes glued to the election screens.
7.39pm Brief:
THE eyes on the nation are on New England as the incumbent Barnaby Joyce takes on former MP Tony Windsor, with a media scrum following both candidates.
Mr Joyce voted at his hometown of Woolbrook, where the journalist and cameras far out numbered the voters - which consisted of just Mr Joyce, his wife and parents.
The Deputy Prime Minister brief addressed the media cohort at West Leagues club in Tamworth, before ducking off to mingle with the party faithful and await the result of the count.
Mr Windsor also has a pack of journalist attending his election night event at his electorate office on White St in Tamworth.
The independent candidate's relationship with News Limited outlets has been strained this election.
In fact it seems to have reached breaking point - Mr Windsor's staff posted a sign on his electorate office door reading: "No accesss to News Limited Media".
7.30pm: Three per cent swings away from Barnaby Joyce as Tony Windsor, on the up and up, claims 31 per cent favourable swings.
7.24pm Brief:
THE early polls are strongly in favor of Barnaby Joyce, however the sitting New England MP said he wouldn't pay attention to the numbers just yet.
Mr Joyce said he always expected to come out strong at the start, with his rival independent candidate Tony Windsor to stage a come back.
The polls favored Mr Joyce 70 per cent to Mr Windsor's 30 per cent as of 7.15pm.
However when the results for Mr Windsor's hometown of Werris Creek came in at 7.18pm, he jumped to 42 per cent, with Mr Joyce falling to 57 per cent.
More to come.
7.22pm: Katter's Australian Party yet to receive a vote in Parkes.
7.20: Lib/Nationals' David Littleproud is holding 46.94 percent of the Maranoa vote, but experiencing 10 percent swing away. Pauline Hanson's One Nation hot on the trail with 19 percent swing in favour, and holding 3467 votes.
7.18: Barnaby Joyce has dropped below his holding of 50 per cent of the vote as Tony Windsor experiences strong swings in his favour. Just more than 8000 votes counted.
7.17pm: Nationals' Mark Coulton is safely holding holding Parkes, with 66 per cent of the vote, just over 10,000 votes. Labor's Kate Stewart is claiming a 3 per cent swing.
6.38pm: Barnaby Joyce has claimed Somerton Public School count, holding vote lead at 291, leading Tony Windsor on 108 votes, but Barnaby says it's going to be a long night.
6.25pm: The votes are slowly piling in, with Barnaby Joyce receiving 57 per cent of the vote at Wollomombi - there were 87 formal votes.
6.10pm Brief:
Scrutineers from across our region are busy counting and tallying thousands of votes. It's too early to tell what will happen from here in what has been described as a tough and ruthless campaign.
While the focus might be on two candidates, The Greens candidate Mercurius Goldstein believed it was the most successful campaign yet for his party. Read more here.
6pm: The polls have closed - let the fun begin!
5.55pm Brief:
TONY Windsor believes he has the support of Tamworth and Armidale but believed some of the wider areas of the electorate would favour Barnaby Joyce. Speaking to ABC24 this evening, Mr Windsor described said he had a "great" election day and was quietly confident about the end result.
It's been pretty positive on the ground but it varies a little bit across the electorate. "In Tamworth and Armidale, the major centres, reports have been pretty positive.
"I believe it would be fifty-fifty in the new part (of the electorate) in the South.
"It's a little bit harder to tell in the grazing belt from Walcha to Glen Innes to Tenterfield and around Inverell,
"Ï think they'll be stonger for Barnaby Joyce than me." When asked about a sign banning Newscorp journalists form his election night function this evening, Mr Windsor remained tight lipped on his reasons why,
"I don't want them there, that's what it's about and that's what it says,"he said.
5.40pm: A statement from Tony Windsor's camp to a national media organisation as reporters, camera crews and photographers gather.
5.20pm: An exit poll released this evening has revealed the election could be too close to call and could come down to a knive's edge. Read the full story here.
5.10pm: There are 50 minutes until polls close and we are getting closer to a resort.
Meanwhile, meet Mim Latham from Inverell who spoke to us about her vote.
4.50pm:
Almost an hour until the polls are closed. Here's more from Barnaby Joyce.
4.40pm:
4.20pm:
One in four people had pre polled before election day and analysts are predicting the closest result in 15-years. Read more here.
4.10pm:
Happy to be back where it all began - here's what Barnaby Joyce had to say at Woolbrook.
4pm:
Here's what Country Minded candidate David Mailler had to say about his election day experience. He caught up with the crew from The Armidale Express earlier.
3.45pm:
Barnaby Joyce has cast his vote at Woolbrook Public School - his old stomping ground. Flanked by his wife Natalie, the duo arrived at the school and into a frenzy of national media. Mr Joyce is expected to arrive back in Tamworth shortly, as the count down until polls close continues.
3.30pm: The Leader's Breanna Chillingworth caught up with Tony Windsor at Tamworth Public School earlier today. Here's what he had to say.
3pm:
Meet Brittany from Inverell...
2.40pm:
And our roving reporter Jamieson Murphy and photographer Gareth Gardner from The Northern Daily Leader have been on the hunt for the perfect election day sausage sizzle - they've put this clever little video together about their mission.
2.15pm:
Mercurius Goldstein met with voters in Tamworth today. He said his party had focused on the issues of the campaign over what has been described as a personality contest between his political opponents. Read the story here
1.50pm:
Barnaby Joyce is still the firm favourite to take out the election and is sitting at odds of $1.22 closely followed by Tony Windsor at $4.00. Mercurius Goldstein from The Greens is sitting as the third favourite with a price of $51.00 according to Sportsbet.
1.40pm:
And our federal member Barnaby Joyce is hitting the polling booths across the region. He's just visited Armidale and mingled with the locals and is expected to vote at Woolbrook later this afternoon.
1.20pm: Member for Parkes Mark Coulton was in Gunnedah this afternoon in a last ditch bid to grab votes. The Nationals MP is sitting in the largest electorate in the nation and had traveled to the area from Dubbo earlier in the morning. His seat is considered one of the safest this election. Check out the video below via the Namoi Valley Independent.
12:45pm: The sausage sizzle is on at Tamworth High School, where Mercurius Goldstein spoke live to the Glen Innes Examiner. You can watch the full video here.
11.30am: Some voters at Goondiwindi are annoyed with senate voting rules changes, to number each box and for having to number 1-6 above the line or 1-12 below the line.
"Many of us just want to vote for one person or group, we don't want to give preferences to other people or parties,"
- Goondiwindi resident Rod Ellis said.
11am: Voters are queuing up at Ross Hill Public School in Inverell, where journalist Steve Green is chatting with candidate David Mailler. Details coming soon.
10am: In Glen Innes, we're finding out what issues are driving voter decisions.
8.15am: Never say never - well, that's pretty much what Tony Windsor said as he left the polling place at Werris Creek after casting his vote. Read the full story here
Meanwhile, Mr Windsor spoke to the media on his way to vote - watch the full video here
7.30am: It's a cold one in Werris Creek this morning but the corflutes are up early at Werris Creek Public School where independent candidate Tony Windsor will be voting at 8am.
Where to vote in New England:
The ballot paper:
WALKER Robert Henry: Online Direct Democracy - (Empowering the People!)
COLEFAX Stan: Christian Democratic Party (Fred Nile Group)
MAILLER David: CountryMinded
WHELAN Peter: Liberal Democrats
EWINGS David: Labor
TABER Rob: Independent
WINDSOR Tony: Independent
JOYCE Barnaby: The Nationals
GOLDSTEIN Mercurius: The Greens
COX Philip Gordon: Independent
Talking point | Do you agree with how these candidates?
Tweet us @Fairfax_NENW, or use #NENWVotes to join the conversation
Water:
Mining and CSG:
TAFE, education and employment:
Mobile and Internet service:
Export:
Health:
How the 2013 federal election panned out
Remember how you voted in 2013? Maybe not. Remind yourself here
Senate voting rules have changed
Don't forget to number at least SIX spaces above the line, or at least 12 spaces below the line on the white senate paper.
Need to know more about your vote? The Australian Electoral Commission's voting rules are here.
How your vote counts
Everything you need to know about how your vote is counted is here: