The Nationals are expected to retain the seat of Upper Hunter, the ABC's election analyst Antony Green says.
The party has held the seat for 90 years.
Green said it was a "terrible result" for Labor, who have "leaked votes" to third parties and independents.
Labor leader Jodi McKay on Saturday night conceded the result was a blow to their efforts in the region, but have now set their sights on the 2023 election.
"We have to make sure we do better," Ms McKay said.
"We have to make this region knows it is a Labor region in the future.
"We have two years to prove to the Upper Hunter that we are a party that deserves their support."
Ms McKay said despite the results so far, this was "no ringing endorsement of the government".
There were 13 candidates contesting the seat vying for the more than 56,000 votes in this by-election.
From those the NSW Electoral Commission sent out 3,073 postal vote packs, so far 2,730 have been tallied.
Only two pre-poll centres have been counted — Singleton which took 6,643 pre-polls and Quirindi with 1,180.
A big chunk of votes have also come from pre-polls.
A total of 19,310 pre-poll votes have been cast representing 34.4 per cent of the areas enrolment.
Commission spokesman Cam Whalan said the different methods of voting, including the Commission's technology-assisted internet and telephone voting platform, may draw out a true final count.
“Most people have used early voting in person, but we have also had a mixture of postal votes and also iVote ... so everyone has to have their postal votes returned by 6pm Wednesday the 26th of May.”
ABC News: Brad Ryan
)The Commission said postal votes will be counted from Monday morning.
The seven-week campaign began when Nationals MP Michael Johnsen resigned after being accused of the 2019 rape of a sex worker in the Blue Mountains and later the release of several text messages between Mr Johnsen and the sex worker were found to be sent while he was in the Assembly.
Mr Johnsen has denied any wrongdoing.
Once a very safe National seat, Mr Johnsen was only narrowly elected at both the 2015 and 2019 elections.
https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMiZmh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmFiYy5uZXQuYXUvbmV3cy8yMDIxLTA1LTIyL3VwcGVyLWh1bnRlci1ieS1lbGVjdGlvbi1yZXN1bHRzLWNhbGxlZC1mb3ItbmF0aW9uYWxzLzEwMDE1ODE3NtIBKGh0dHBzOi8vYW1wLmFiYy5uZXQuYXUvYXJ0aWNsZS8xMDAxNTgxNzY?oc=5
2021-05-22 10:39:15Z
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