Simon Bridges has told his supporters he was excited about his role as Tauranga MP and believed National had a good chance to lead the country again.
Mr Bridges delivered a speech to those attending his election party, thanking supporters and family.
Although official results were not confirmed, he was confident.
"We've got a good chance of forming a government for another three years," Mr Bridges said.
Bridges arrived at No 1 The Strand about 7.20pm, receiving hugs from supporters. Hesaid his supporters were the reason he had been successful in this campaign.
Mr Bridges said he was confident of returning as the Tauranga MP but could not comment on his party's position.
"Whilst I'm confident right now I'm the local MP, I can't say what's going to happen in terms of the National election," Mr Bridges said.
"I'm excited as ever about this city. There's still a lot more to do."
"It has been great to have a good crowd here. People here are without out exception people who have done practical things for me," Mr Bridges said.
"They've been out putting up signs, delivering pamphlets, door knocking, scrutineering."
He said the local campaign had been "massive", with 56,000 brochures put out and hundreds of signs erected.
"I just quite simply couldn't do it without them."
He said the people at his election party were there and had helped out because they believed it was the right thing to do.
When Bridges was celebrating his win in the last election, he and wife Natalie had two young sons, one was just a few months old.
Fast forward to present day and the couple have their third child on the way, this time a girl.
Mrs Bridges said her children had an understanding of what their dad did as a job and knew when they were campaigning.
"In our household there's never a dull moment," Mrs Bridges said.
She said their boys - Emlyn, 5 and Harry, 3, knew the different "teams" in the election and "know daddy's the blue team".
"They know that we party vote National," she said. "They do have a good sense of it."
Even though Mrs Bridges was pregnant this election campaign, she got out as much as possible to be part of it.
She did not know if it was because she was carrying a girl, but said this pregnancy had felt easier than with her boys so campaigning was not difficult.
"I try to get involved in as much campaigning as possible.
"I enjoy getting out there."
She said the support for her husband and the National Party was "amazing".
"There's been so many of them and they've been amazing. I really feel that everyone has pulled together to try and brings good result in. It's really amazing."
Lynda Marwood and Tony Young are looking forward to tonight's election results.
"I think it's going to be really really interesting," Mr Young said.
"It's exciting, you just don't know what's going to happen," Ms Marwood said.
"I just hope New Zealand's picked right," she said.
National Party supporters are keeping up to date with live election coverage via television, laptops and personal devices.
National Party member Lynne Clark said she had not always been a supporter but in recent years found herself being more drawn to the party.
She said when she researched National's policies she found overall, it was the party that resonated most with her.
"I just really like what they've done for us in the last nine years," she said.
She said results were looking positive for National.
"At the end of the day we'll all still wake up tomorrow and life will still go on."
Simon Bridges is confident he is returning as the Tauranga MP.
Posted by Bay of Plenty Times on Saturday, 23 September 2017
Supporters are gathering around a television cheering each other and hoping for good results.
Jennifer Glausiuss is the chairwoman for the National Party's Tauranga branch.
She said the National Party members were a supportive group who work as a team.
"We're a very very committed group," Mrs Glausiuss said.
Coming from a farming background, Mrs Glausiuss strongly believes the National Party is the best choice to serve New Zealand.
"I feel they have served the farming community," Mrs Glausiuss said.
As polling results filter in, Mrs Glausiuss said her hopes were becoming closer to reality which she was "quite delighted" about.
Fellow National Party member Moses Anderson said he pledged his allegiance to the party after studying politics and realising it had similar values as he did.
"I just decoded that I'd start finding the party I belonged to," Mr Anderson said.
"Everything that National stood for ... I did," he said.
11.35pm: Final results are in for Tauranga and Rotorua, and Waiariki and Bay of Plenty are almost there.
National MPs Simon Bridges (Tauranga), Todd Muller (Bay of Plenty) and Todd McClay (Rotorua) have retained their seats, while Waiariki has changed hands from Te Ururoa Flavell (Maori) to Tamati Coffey (Labour).
In Tauranga, Bridges got 19,111 votes, followed by Jan Tinetti (Labour) on 8841 votes and Clayton Mitchell (NZ First) on 4406 votes.