Labor’s Josh Wilson will hold on to his seat of Fremantle after stiff competition from independent Kate Hulett in the second time she has come close to unseating a Labor frontbencher.
Mr Wilson, who has held the seat since 2016, pulled ahead on Wednesday afternoon as pre-poll votes were counted and the preference flows came his way.
His margin will drop from its previously safe status of 16.9 per cent to single digits.
It was Ms Hulett’s second tilt at politics in a matter of months.
She ran in the State seat of Fremantle against WA minister Simone McGurk but lost it by 424 votes.
By Wednesday afternoon, the bulk of postal votes had been counted, with preferences splitting Mr Wilson’s way, and election analysis for the ABC and 7 called the seat for Labor.
Ms Hulett won a majority of preferences at the Fremantle pre-poll centre (53.9 per cent) but Mr Willson won a larger share of those cast at the Cockburn pre-poll (57.2 per cent) on the opposite end of the electorate.
Three other pre-poll booths, in Melville, Applecross and Perth, are yet to report a preference count.
The other undecided seat in WA, Bullwinkel, remains too close to call.
As of Wednesday evening, Labor’s Trish Cook was ahead of Liberal Matt Moran by just 95 voters.
This lead expanded and contracted throughout the day as the preference count continued, with neither side willing to predict the outcome.
One Labor source said the seat was “tighter than a duck’s arsehole” while a Liberal source said the absentee votes were tracking against the party.
