Mr Fitzgibbon was relaxing yesterday at home with family, hoping Labor could still form a government.

"I'm very grateful the electorate has returned me once again but yesterday's vote did send an important message and that's that they expect us to do better," Mr Fitzgibbon said.

"I still wonder whether we would have done better or worse under Mr Rudd, however I was a strong supporter to switch to Julia (Prime Minister Julia Gillard) and she gave us our best chance."

He said Labor went into the election with the better reform program.

"I'd still dearly like to see us deliver on those plans," Mr Fitzgibbon said.

His National Party opponent Michael Johnsen was pleased with his result, describing it as "making inroads" on the large margin Labor has in Hunter.

"There was a 5 per cent swing away from Labor," Mr Johnsen said.

"I was a little disappointed that swing was not bigger because we were counting on about 15 per cent," he said.

"While the result didn't work that way, it was still a big step towards that," he said.

Greens candidate Chris Parker was overwhelmed with his performance in Cessnock.

"I polled really well there which surprised me because it really is Labor heartland," he said.

"At Wollombi I got 32 per cent of the vote.

"I'm really happy with the outcome and encouraged by the fact that at the last election we only picked up 6.5 per cent overall in Hunter."