Redland City has a new mayor. Councillor Karen Williams has won an 18-month fight for the top job, toppling incumbent Melva Hobson in the battle.
Speaking from her victory party at St Anthony's Catholic Church Parish Hall at Alexandra Hills, Cr Williams said she was thrilled and humbed by the win.
"It is a huge vote of faith from all the people of Redland in me and they can count on me to deliver over the next four years," Cr Williams said.
"It was an amazing effort from my volunteers who put in the time despite the terrible weather and rain.
"It just goes to show that when you listen you get rewarded and that people wanted to get back to basics which is what I promise to deliver," Cr Williams said.
Cr Williams also thanked her opponent.
"Melva spent four years in public life and her heart was in the right place but she didn't listen to people's views," Cr Williams said.
"She didn't listen strongly enough to people's views.
"People were saying we needed to make sure we took care of them and make sure there was an affordable future for our kids and Redlands was put back on the map of south-east Queensland.
"I have a big job ahead of me to get this council back to basics and back on track to where it deserves to be," Cr Williams said.
Cr Hobson, who was elected mayor in 2008, conceded defeat at 8.20pm and congratulated her opponent.
"It is clear that Redland City has voted for change," Cr Hobson said.
"I congratulate Cr Williams as she takes on the enormous responsibility of Mayor.
"It has been an absolute honour to be the Mayor of Redlands over the past four years and I'd like to thank all Redlanders for electing me in 2008.
"I also thank the many thousands of people that voted for me tonight.
"I have always stayed true to my principles and convictions and I leave confident that our city is in good shape for the future," Cr Hobson said.
A trend towards Cr Williams started as soon as the first trickle of votes was counted.
The trend continued with Cr Williams leading by more than 30 percentage points for most of the night.
When 33,058 of the votes had been counted, Cr Williams held the lead in the race for mayor with 67.70% of the vote compared with Cr Hobson, who had 32.30% of the vote.
At 9.15pm, the results showed Division 1 incumbent Wendy Boglary had 51.31%, slightly ahead of Corinne Tomasi.
In Division 2, incumbent Craig Ogilvie was slightly ahead of Bob Pollock with 51.38% of the vote when 57% of the vote had been counted.
In Division 3, incumbent Cr Debra Henry was rolled by newcomer Kim Hardman, who had 52.21% of the vote with 58% counted.
In Division 4, Lance Hewlett (39.87%) and Louise Denisenko (34.25%) were battling it out for first place with 51.81% of the vote.
In Division 5, incumbent Barbara Townsend had 22% of the vote while Mark Edwards was leading with 45.76% in front of Mike Verry with 32.48%.
In Division 6, with 37% of the vote counted, Julie Talty was ahead with 48.67% of the vote, in front of Bruce Smith with 25.95% and Lyndsay Byrne with 25.38%.
Councillor Murray Elliott was likely to be returned to his Division 7 seat with 57% of the vote, beating rival Charles Johanson.
Former Division 8 councillor Alan Beard will be the new Division 8 councillor, replacing Kathy Reimers and beating Dianne Hausler.
Mr Beard won more than 49% of the vote.
In Division 9, with 64.39% of the vote counted, Paul Gleeson had 38% of the vote, leading Alan Roche (34.37%) and Brett Thompson (27.43%).
Councillor Helen Murray, who has held the Division 10 seat for 18 years, is likely to be replaced by newcomer Paul Bishop, a leading actor on the popular Blue Heelers TV show.