Election across the region | Murray Plains, Euroa and Ovens Valley all wins for the National Party

State Nationals leader Peter Walsh snared a sixth term in office in Murray Plains, which was effectively the first result called of the evening on Saturday such was his dominance at the polls.

With 77.8 per cent of the vote counted by the time scrutineers retired to bed in the early hours of Sunday morning, Mr Walsh had secured 63 per cent of the overall votes ahead of Labor’s Damien Hurrell with 18.5 per cent.

Predicted preference distribution has Mr Walsh retaining the same margin of victory as he did in 2018 at just under 24 per cent.

“I cannot thank the people in Murray Plains enough for their support of me, personally, as their representative in the Victorian Parliament, and also of The Nationals across the state,” Mr Walsh told the Riverine Herald.

“Despite having to work from the Opposition benches, our party has been able to deliver at the grassroots level as well as strongly influencing issues at a state level in the Parliament.

“I believe that through the disaster that was our state’s management of the COVID pandemic, and hyper locally, the current flooding situation, as the local member I have been able to help so many people facing so many challenges — from the spectre of financial ruin with their businesses to the equally damaging emotional damage caused by lockdowns and now by floods.

“This has been three very tough years for everyone, and the way in which our communities have worked together to meet them head on has been the signature statement of people right across regional Victoria.

“I have met with people facing the financial ruin of their businesses, sat down with people emotionally devastated by those lockdowns, by their second round of massive flood damage in a decade and feeling there is no light at the end of any tunnel.

“I have been able to help many of them, and still regret I could not solve the problems of each and every one of them — but I will be back at my desk on Monday ready to start it all over again.”

In Euroa, Annabelle Cleeland has succeeded retiring member Steph Ryan and retained the seat for The Nationals, despite a small swing towards Labor candidate Angela Tough in the two-candidate-preferred count.

Ms Cleeland secured 34.8 per cent of the first preference voting — with 67.1 per cent of the count completed — compared to Ms Tough’s 29.4 per cent and Liberal candidate Brad Hearn’s 21 per cent.

But once preference flows were calculated, Ms Cleeland retained a healthy 12.5 per cent advantage over her nearest rival, after Ms Ryan held the electorate by a 15.3 per cent margin in 2018.

"I am grateful for the support of people in the Euroa district, but also the support of everyone who helped with our campaign,“ Ms Cleeland said.

“Steph Ryan was a fierce advocate for our region and I will continue to put the Euroa electorate front and centre.

“I will fight for the people of the Euroa electorate to ensure our smaller communities aren't neglected by a Labor government, and that The Nationals can deliver the much-needed projects we have identified across the electorate."

With 77.6 per cent of the vote counted in Ovens Valley, Nationals incumbent Tim McCurdy will sit for a fourth term after a predicted seven per cent swing towards him.

Taking 53.8 per cent of the first preference voting, Mr McCurdy has stretched his two-candidate-preferred margin out to 19.2 percent over Labor’s Zuvele Leschen.

The booths closest to the Goulburn Valley all voted heavily in Mr McCurdy’s favour on the two-candidate-preferred scale, with Cobram (1120 to 420 votes), Invergordon (173 to 49), Katamatite (262 to 69) and Yarroweyah (633 to 146) among them.