'Extraordinary' election may leave Brisbane council virtually unchanged

Brisbane may see almost the same 26 councillors returned for another four-year term, as vote counting continues at a crawl three days after the local government elections.

The Saturday election was completed in strange circumstances with coronavirus fears keeping many away from polling stations, and generating record numbers of postal votes and pre-poll votes.

Adrian Schrinner has been returned as Brisbane lord mayor.Credit: AAP/Albert Perez

After a website glitch on Saturday night, the Electoral Commission of Queensland has been slowly completing the official count of votes not just for Brisbane but all 77 councils.

In a statement on Monday night, the ECQ said returning officers were continuing to count votes in individual local government areas and the Bundamba and Currumbin byelections.

"The process of exchanging votes between Brisbane City Council wards is also being undertaken under strict requirements that apply to the transfer of ballot papers," the statement said.

Out of 570,000 postal votes statewide, almost 213,000 have been returned, scrutinised and added to the count or rejected. The deadline for postal vote returns is April 7.

"Due to the large volume of postal votes in the local government elections, it may be necessary to await the return, scrutiny and counting of postal votes in order to determine the outcome of close contests," the ECQ said.

Brisbane lord mayor-elect Adrian Schrinner said while in mid-March he and the Local Government Association of Queensland had called for the elections to go ahead as a "critical" part of democracy, he had questioned why they couldn't have been completed as a full postal vote.

"There's still a long way to go with the counting. We're part of the way through but at this point ... it is likely we will have the same councillors in place right across the board," he said.

"I think that is a clear message from the community that they wanted stability and they wanted experienced people in this time of crisis."

The only election-triggered change for the LNP so far, while counting continues, is that of Pullenvale where the LNP-endorsed Greg Adermann has retained the safe ward.

Mr Adermann beat newly independent former LNP councillor Kate Richards, who was cleared by the Crime and Corruption Commission of corruption just days before the election, and the Greens' Charles Druckmann.

While some marginal wards, particularly the LNP-held Paddington, Enoggera and Northgate, were still too close to call on Tuesday afternoon, the majority of wards appeared secure in the hands of those who already held them.

Labor is closely watching Enoggera, where Jonty Bush is neck-and-neck with LNP incumbent Andrew Wines, and Northgate, where Reg Neil has given incumbent LNP Adam Allan a similarly close run.

The Greens are still hoping to steal Paddington, while celebrating record swings in Jonathan Sri's The Gabba ward and strong lord mayoral polling from Kath Angus, up six or seven per cent from the 2016 elections.

Opposition leader and Labor councillor for Deagon Jared Cassidy said the last two weeks of the campaign, when coronavirus fears hit and electioneering was swallowed up in public safety, were "extraordinary".

Opposition leader and Deagon ward councillor Jared Cassidy.Credit: Tammy Law

Cr Cassidy said he believed the election had to continue, as a delay would have created uncertainty not just for Brisbane but other councils as well.

Cr Cassidy cited strong swings in outer suburban wards such as Calamvale and Bracken Ridge, both LNP-held, as evidence Labor's suburban message got through before the pandemic.

"It is disappointing, the outcome, I can't sugarcoat that," he said.

"I really think we had a lot of momentum going into the campaign proper itself. We were connecting with communities across Brisbane on the issues we were talking about.

"Then the rug was pulled from under our feet."

QUT associate professor and former speaker for the Queensland Parliament John Mickel said the LNP "totally outplayed" Labor.

For Labor the doldrums continue – a dismal five wards and a lord mayoral vote less than the 2016 effort of Rod Harding, whom the party unceremoniously dumped for journalist Pat Condren.

“The LNP strategy of replacing long-term councillors worked electorally with reduced swings in the highly marginal wards and Lisa Attwood’s runaway win in the most marginal of them all, the notional Labor seat of Doboy," Professor Mickel said.

“Another outcome was that all councillors facing their first time re-election for both Labor and LNP were returned with increased majorities."

Mr Condren conceded to Cr Schrinner on Sunday.