Polling booths have closed for the New England by-election and counting is under way after around 70,000 people cast their votes across the electorate.
The by-election, triggered by the ousting of former deputy prime minister Barnaby Joyce in October, has seen Labor, the Greens and a colourful cast of minor parties and independents sign on to wrestle away the safe Nationals seat.
The Australian Electoral Commission recorded 32,836 pre-poll votes before the voting stations even opened on Saturday, suggesting a third of the electorate were already decided.
Mr Joyce, the strong favourite, spent the morning campaigning in the small towns of the electorate's north while many of his rivals clustered in Tamworth.
Among them was Labor's self-described "underdog" David Ewings who is pushing for better health services for regional and rural Australians.
He said parents who want better funding for schools were turning away from the Nationals.
He also said discord was growing in the coalition between the Nationals and Liberals while Labor was able to successfully push for a royal commission into banks.
"You have to wonder what's going on in the Coalition," he told AAP at Tamworth on Saturday.
He added deputy NSW premier John Barilaro had put the head of his party, Mr Joyce, in a difficult position after calling for the prime minister's resignation before Christmas.
Among Mr Joyce's supporters was Nationals MP Andrew Broad, who was out early at a polling station at Tamworth West Primarty School on Saturday morning.
He said there was a lot of support for "local boy" Barnaby Joyce and he doubted voters would be too concerned about the citizenship issues that sparked his leader's disqualification from parliament.
"If you're born here, you're born here," he told AAP.
"I think people are going to bring him back. You've got work to do, Barnaby, we're bringing you back to Canberra."
