By close of counting on Monday, Ms Washington had claimed 56.4 per cent of the vote to Ms Abbott's 43.6 per cent two-party preferred.

The result clearly belonged to Ms Washington, who described the win as a "relief" following an intense six-month campaign dogged by accusations from both sides of dirty tactics, negativity and "Facebook interference".

For Ms Washington, Saturday's election victory was the culmination of four years of hard work. She described the spoils as being both "humbling" and "taxing" on herself, her family and her supporters.

"The campaign was both emotionally and physically demanding. I am not someone that does things by halves, I have given my all in the interests of my community," she said.

"I was fortunate to have an incredible team of helpers behind me. We had volunteers I had never seen before offering to help. And my family has been enormously supportive, including my parents who travelled up from Albury for the final three weeks."

Just 36 hours after claiming the seat, the incumbent MP was back in her Raymond Terrace office surrounded by staff preparing to continue the fight "because Port Stephens is worth fighting for".

"My initial reaction to hearing the result was one of relief, followed by sheer excitement and happiness. As I sit here now I am incredibly grateful that the people have put their trust in me for the next four years," she said.

"I believe the voters made their assessment on my track record ... the response from the community has not changed in four years, the feedback has been consistently positive and this was reflected at the polls.

"The Liberal candidate had the might of the government and the support of the local council behind her. It was a hard fought campaign and there were a lot of dirty tactics at play, including the fake Facebook profile accounts."

Asked about allegations made against her own tactics, Ms Washington claimed: "Any allegations made against me were done to smear my name and undermine my credibility."

Ms Washington said the returning Coalition government would be put under the spotlight in Port Stephens like never before and that she would be ensuring they would be held to account on their many pre-election commitments.

"The $275 million upgrade of Nelson Bay Road would be a good place to start. Then there are the promises of an immediate review of the Port Stephens-Great Lakes Marine Park, the Fingal bypass, TAFE building for Nelson Bay and school maintenance backlog," she said.

"I will be reminding the Premier of her responsibility to Port Stephens ... she should respect this community and represent the whole of NSW just as I would continue to represent all of Port Stephens."

While the media speculates over the future of the Labor leadership, Ms Washington preferred to remain non-committal only saying that nothing had been discussed within the party. She does, however, expect to retain her shadow portfolios of Minister for the Hunter and Early Childhood Education.

Asked about her long-term ambitions, Ms Washington was equally guarded. "Right now I am looking forward to continuing to represent the community and fight for the Hunter. There are challenges in what we need to be doing in making the Hunter economy stronger and more resilient."

A fierce supporter of a new high school for Medowie, Ms Washington said that the thought of fighting for another four years was gut wrenching. "But I will continue to fight [for the school]."

Other "gutting" outcomes included the lack of an update on the Mambo Wetlands sell-off and "no upgrade on Tomaree Hospital".

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