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Labor's Jodie Belyea has won the Dunkley by-election in Victoria on Saturday, as Liberal candidate Nathan Conroy conceded.
The Liberal Party had been hopeful of flipping the seat in Melbourne's south east before the results came in, as it would have put pressure on the government in the next federal election.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was quick to celebrate Belyea's victory on X, the social media platform formally known as Twitter.
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"Congratulations to Jodie Belyea on her victory in the Dunkley by-election and winning the honour of serving her local community in federal parliament," he said.
"Jodie ran a strong and positive campaign and she'll work hard every day as a champion for Dunkley in Canberra."
During his concession speech to the Liberal Party room, Conroy announced his wife's pregnancy.
"The three good things that came from this campaign is I got to meet thousands of my community and listen and talk to as many people as possible to learn exactly what the challenges they're facing," he said.
"The second is that I lost 15 kilos … The last one is the best news, just before I came up on the stage, my wife whispered in my ear that we are having our second child!"
Opposition spokesperson Jane Hume told the party room Conroy had done an extraordinary job.
"We had a terrific candidate in Nathan Conroy. Before I hand over to Sussan Ley, let me say, what a joy, what a pleasure it's been campaigning with this man. Campaigning with his family," she said, according to The Sydney Morning Herald.
"He is courageous, he's a courageous man. You should have seen the intimidation levelled at him on the booths, not just today but for the last two weeks."
The Dunkley by-election win for Labor was first called by ABC's Antony Green just after 8.30pm.
"The two-party preferred swing is still about 3.8 per cent but we are relatively confident that seat will be decided and that Jodie Belyea will be, well, we're saying Jodie Belyea will win that seat," he said.
"That's been a victory for the Labor Party."
https://twitter.com/AlboMP/status/1763871235635814849?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
READ MORE: Everything you need to know about crucial Dunkley byelection
Voters were sent to the polls on Saturday after Labor MP Peta Murphy died from breast cancer.
The electorate covers several suburbs including Frankston, Carrum Downs, Langwarrin and Sandhurst.
Dunkley was considered a safe Labor seat, with a 6.3 per cent margin, however, political experts say both the Coalition and the Albanese Government will be watching closely, as a temperature check on voters before the next federal election.
9News Political Editor Charles Croucher said the Dunkley electorate mimicked middle Australia, which is so pivotal to the political landscape.
"In the cities, liberal seats are under siege from the teals, Labor seats from the greens and the outer suburbs have become the path to power for the major parties," Croucher said.
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Earlier on Saturday, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told Weekend Today that he knows by-elections can be tough for the government.
"The average swing in a by-election is against the government of 7.1 per cent. We hold the seat by 6.3 per cent, so you can do the maths," Albanese said.
"It's in the hands of the voters today, we're put forward very clearly, the best candidate in Jodie Belyea, who will carry on the work of the magnificent Peta Murphy.
"No one in this local community wanted this byelection because Peta Murphy was taken from us too soon at age 50 sadly.
"One of the things Peta did was recruit Jodie Belyea to the Labor Party to carry on her legacy of strong advocacy and working for this local community, and I'm very confident that Jodie Belyea will do just that.
"She's a local mum. She's not a career politician. She's got a mortgage, she understands this local community."
Belyea, the founder of a local volunteer group that offers health and wellbeing programs for vulnerable women, was approached about running by Murphy about a year ago.
Local Liberal candidate, Nathan Conroy, is going up against her, in a race that's expected to come down to the wire.
Conroy is the current mayor of Frankston.
He moved to Australia from Ireland at 19. He became the general manager of an inner-Melbourne bowling club a few years later before being elected to the council in 2020.
Both candidates say they want to tackle the cost of living crisis.
