With neither Mr Barrett (14,552 votes, 30.66 per cent) or Mr Donato (11,049 votes, 23.28 per cent) close to a majority of primary votes the election will be decided by the distribution of preferences.

At the time of going to print on Sunday NSW Electoral Commission projections had Mr Donato receiving 7385 re-distributed votes, or 54.5 per cent, with Mr Barrett on 6167, or 45.5 per cent.

The figures are based on the results at 10 of the 38 polling booths in the Orange electorate, in addition to 10,016 votes lodged in Orange’s pre-poll office prior to Saturday.

There were 18112 votes cast in these booths – just over 30 per cent of a total 59,784 enrolled voters.

Mr Donato and Mr Barrett each won two of these booths in the primary count.

Three of these booths – Borenore, Canowindra and Cargo – are situated in Cabonne Shire, which swung drastically against the Nationals in response to the Coalition Government’s forced council amalgamations.

Early on Sunday a NSW Electoral Commission spokesperson said the final result of the byelection won’t be known until Thursday at the earliest when postal and absentee ballots are counted.

From the time the NSW Electoral Commission released the first results about 6pm on Saturday it was obvious the contest was a two-horse race.

At last count Labor candidate Bernard Fitzsimon’s tally stood at 8,511 primary votes, or 17.93 per cent of the 47,465 votes counted.

While the Shooters, Fishers and Farmers team celebrated on Saturday night at the Hotel Canobolas, the mood at The Nationals’ gathering at Orange City Bowling Club was subdued.

Mr Barrett fronted the media, saying he couldn’t be prouder of his team, but did not take questions on the drastic swing against The Nationals’ – former member Andrew Gee won every booth in March last year.

Nationals volunteer Allen Hawke attributed the party’s slide to the Coalition’s stances on greyhound racing and forced council mergers.