Tauranga could end up with five MPs in Parliament if the special votes favour Labour in New Zealand's cliff-hanger election.
Labour's candidate for the Bay of Plenty electorate Angie Warren-Clark was 46th on the party list, leaving her only one short of an election night result that secured Labour 45 seats in the next Parliament.
"I am very hopeful that Labour will pull up a bigger percentage of the vote from the specials," the Tauranga Women's Refuge manager said.
The result of counting the specials would be announced on October 6, with the rest of the country on tenterhooks waiting to see how it could influence discussions between the two major parties and New Zealand First on who formed a Government.
The resurgence of support for Labour meant its unsuccessful Tauranga electorate candidate Jan Tinetti would still enter Parliament as a list MP.
The other confirmed MPs in the next Parliament were Tauranga's MP Simon Bridges (National), Bay of Plenty's MP Todd Muller (National) and New Zealand First list member Clayton Mitchell.
Mr Bridges comfortably fended off the challenge from Ms Tinetti to ensure Tauranga continued to be a safe National seat. The only wobble was that he was up against a Labour candidate who for once was a high-profile community figure - something he never had to contend with before.
This, combined with the Jacinda effect, meant Ms Tinetti grabbed nearly a quarter of Mr Bridges' 2014 election night winning margin of 13,526 votes.
The principal of Merivale School increased Labour's candidate vote for Tauranga by a hefty 67 per cent on 2014, relegating New Zealand First's Clayton Mitchell into third place. He finished second three years ago.
Mr Bridges said people were keen to see the new government take strong action on housing, the environment and poverty. "We need to do all we can to pick up the pace."
National was untroubled by the Tauranga electorate's party vote. It took 18,742 votes -
a mere 39 votes fewer than 2014.
The combined Jacinda/Tinetti effect boosted Labour's party vote in Tauranga by 90 per cent on 2014, but it still lagged nearly 10,000 votes behind National.
New Zealand First's party vote dropped 18 per cent on 2014 while the Greens' dropped 44 per cent. The party vote for The Opportunities Party (Top) ended up only 226 votes behind the Greens' 1208 votes.
Mr Muller, a first-term MP, defied the odds by increasing his election night vote count by 2675 votes - up 13 per cent on 2014. It meant the rise in Labour's fortunes did not impact on him as much as other National MPs.
It meant that Instead of Ms Warren-Clark making a significant dent in his winning margin, he only dropped 7 per cent, leaving him ahead by 13,141 votes.
The former rural seat now encompassed Tauranga's southern suburbs, all of Papamoa and a chunk of Mount Maunganui.
Mr Muller said he was stoked with the result, particularly because the death of his father meant the family came first for a chunk of the election campaign.
''When you factor all of that in, I am very humbled.''
The party vote for National in his electorate increased by nearly 7 per cent while Labour's party vote doubled. It was at the expense of New Zealand First's party vote dropping 12 per cent and the Greens dropping 38 per cent. Top's party vote of 1066 was only 286 votes behind the Greens.
National had comfortable wins in the two general seats that overlapped into the Western Bay. Anne Tolley (East Coast) beat Labour's Allan Kiri by 4653 votes and Rotorua's Todd McClay beat Labour's Ben Sandford by 7430 votes.
One of the most significant game-changers for Labour was Tamati Coffey's 1300-vote victory over the Maori Party incumbent for Waiariki, Te Ururoa Flavell.