A THREE-WAY contest means the result in the former Liberal stronghold of Boothby may not be known for several days as preferences are distributed.
While Liberal candidate Nicolle Flint appears in the box seat to hold Boothby, which has been in Liberal hands since 1949, the emergence of NXT as a player as well as the Greens, plus a strong local Labor candidate, means preferences are expected to decide the winner.
Retiring Liberal MP Andrew Southcott held the seat with a 7.1 per cent margin and Ms Flint, 37, was seeking to become the seat's first female MP since it was created in 1903. 
If successful, Ms Flint would also become the first female Liberal Member of the House of Representatives from SA in almost a decade, since the retirement of Makin MP Trish Draper at the 2007 election.
Mr Southcott held the seat for 20 years and previous incumbents have included former SA Premier Steele Hall (1981-1996).
Transport was a key issue in the 130sq km electorate and Liberal promises included $43 million to extend the Tonsley rail line to Flinders Medical Centre - matched by Labor - and $40 million for the Oaklands Crossing.
Labor pledged $44 million to floodproof the Brownhill and Keswick creek catchment, while the ALP's promise of $500 million towards the AdeLINK tram network would see it eventually extend to Belair Rd in Torrens Park.
Boothby was contested by eight candidates: Ms Flint, Labor's Mark Ward, the NXT's Karen Hockley, the Greens' Jane Bange, Family First's Gary Wheatcroft, Animal Justice Party's Evelyn Carroll and independents Jamie Armfield and Robert de Jonge.
Ms Hockley, a Mitcham councillor, predicted several days of counting would be needed to distribute preferences before a final result is known. "We might be counting preferences for days," Ms Hockley said. "I hope we are because that means it would be in my favour." Volunteers at booths said there seemed to be support for minor parties. "A lot of people aren't taking how-to-vote cards but that's for both parties," Liberal volunteer Ralph Walker said at Colonel Light Gardens. "That's usual in this booth - there's a lot of Greens and Xenophon." Colonel Light Gardens resident John Smith would not say who he voted for but expected Ms Flint to win.
Labor's Mark Ward, a teacher and former deputy mayor of Mitcham, was not daunted by the Liberal margin going into the election, having achieved a 6 per cent swing when he ran for the state seat of Davenport last year.
"We've had a good campaign," he said. "I've extensively door knocked and phone called.
"I've been to 60 street-corner meetings - Labor has excellent policies." Ms Flint voted at Colonel Light Gardens Primary School, where her great-grandmother and grandmother were teachers. "It's been positive but it's up to the voters," Ms Flint said.
"We have worked so hard to tell the people of Boothby about jobs and growth and getting the state's economy back on track." Ms Flint grew up in the South-East, graduated from Flinders University and now lives at Mitcham.
She worked as a solicitor and adviser at the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, was a policy adviser to Malcolm Turnbull and former Liberal leader Brendan Nelson and has written columns for The Advertiser.
BOOTHBY FLINT (LIB) WARD (ALP) HOCKLEY (NXT)MARGIN 7.1%