HE is a former powerlifting champion and gym owner but the marathon election campaign has tested the strength of popular Labor backbencher Tony Zappia.
Mr Zappia, 64, a former Salisbury mayor for 10 years, has been the local MP for the northeastern suburban commuter belt seat of Makin for almost a decade. 
The father of three, who has won 10 national powerlifting championships and continues to mentor young athletes, was last night aiming to secure a fourth term in a seat he holds with a 5.1 per cent margin. Mr Zappia was up against Liberal candidate and Salisbury councillor Graham Reynolds, 46.
Yesterday, the incumbent voted at his old school, Pooraka Primary, with wife Vicki, who waited in the voting queue for an hour.
Mr Zappia, of Pooraka, was due to watch the count unfold with family, friends and campaign volunteers at the Modbury Bowling Club. Speaking ahead of last night's vote, he admitted the two-month-long campaign had its challenges.
"This has been the longest campaign I've ever been involved in and it's certainly been a very tiring campaign," he said. "It's the people's verdict at the end of the day. I don't speculate, I don't try to predict what people are going to do." While Mr Zappia would not be drawn on whether he could increase his margin, Liberal candidate Mr Reynolds - who voted yesterday at Keithcot Farm Children's Centre, Wynn Vale, with wife Krista - remained hopeful of winning.
Mr Reynolds, an aerospace engineer of Salisbury East, has spent the past three decades working at the Edinburgh RAAF base but resigned from the air force on Anzac Day to pursue his campaign.
"I don't underestimate the challenge (but) I think we're a shot, I really do," he said. "I think people just want someone to stand up for them (in Makin) and actually speak and do things, as opposed to just exist." Local volunteers suggested the Nick Xenophon Team's popularity had not resonated within the electorate.
Mr Zappia first ran for the marginal seat in 2004. Despite achieving a swing of 2.7 per cent, he failed to beat Liberal Trish Draper. He prevailed at the 2007 election with an 8.6 per cent swing and increased his margin again in 2010.
But at the 2013 election, the Coalition recorded a 6.9 per cent swing in the seat, which covers suburbs including Mawson Lakes, Golden Grove, Modbury and Tea Tree Gully.
Other candidates this year were Craig Bossie (NXT), Keiran Snape (Greens), Paul Coombe (Family First), Mark Aldridge (independent) and Zarina Greenberg (Animal Justice Party).
MAKIN ZAPPIA (ALP) REYNOLDS (LIB) BOSSIE (NXT)MARGIN 5.1%