Scanlon, McMahon, Mellish in the firing line as voting race tightens

Labor’s short-lived election night excitement has turned into a nightmare as the party sweats on the result for likely future leader Meaghan Scanlon, with other seats also in the balance.

Scanlon, McMahon, Mellish on the chopping block as race tightens

Labor’s short-lived election night excitement has turned into a nightmare as the party sweats on likely future leader Meaghan Scanlon winning the battle for her Gold Coast electorate.

Ten seats remain in doubt as Electoral Commission of Queensland counting nears the end of its third day.

Labor holds 30 seats and is ahead in four other races: Gaven, Springwood, Macalister and South Brisbane.

Excitement on election night that the swing against Labor wouldn’t be as bad as predicted was short-lived, with the LNP’s vote climbing as early votes were counted.

In the five races the LNP is ahead, they are expected to win all.

Megan Scanlon is still fighting to hang onto Gaven. Picture: Adam Head

“The more counting continues the worse it gets for us,” one surviving Labor MP said.

Ms Scanlon remains locked in a tight battle with TV-personality-turned-LNP-candidate Bianca Stone for the northern Gold Coast seat of Gaven.

Privately, the LNP is sceptical it can overturn Ms Scanlon’s 537-vote lead despite half of the electorate’s 7623 yet to be returned.

The incoming government is optimistic it will win Aspley and Pine Rivers from former ministers Bart Mellish and Nikki Boyd.

In a shock development, the LNP’s Rob van Manen is in the hunt to win a Labor heartland seat of Macalister off Melissa McMahon.

Greens MP Amy MacMahon needs the LNP to close the gap on Labor if she is to win a second term in the electorate of South Brisbane.

The LNP trails Labor’s Barbara O’Shea by 719 primary votes.

Greens MP Amy MacMahon might be punted from South Brisbane. Photograph David Kelly

If the gap is closed and the LNP finishes second Labor preferences would elect Ms MacMahon.

In Springwood one of Steven Miles’s most loyal soldiers, Mick de Brenni, is in a tight contest with the LNP’s Susanna Damianopoulos.

He suffered a 7 per cent swing and leads by 808 votes.

In Pumicestone, 22-year-old LNP candidate Ariana Doolan is expected to become the youngest woman elected to parliament with her defeat of Labor’s Ali King.

Ms Doolan faced a hostile Labor campaign that attacked her age and made baseless claims the LNP would “sell” the Bribie Island Satellite Hospital.

The tightest contest remains between the conservatives in the central Queensland seat of Mirani.

Katter’s Australian Party MP Stephen Andrew is fighting to defeat an 8.2 per cent swing to the LNP’s Glen Kelly and retain the electorate.

The diminished Labor Party Caucus is expected to meet and vote on an opposition leader and deputy opposition leader within weeks.