Labor claim Gilmore as Anthony Albanese comfortably secures majority government with 77 seats

Labor has reclaimed the seat of Gilmore, giving new Prime Minister Anthony Albanese a comfortable majority government.

Gilmore, on the New South Wales south coast, is one of the state’s most marginal seats and votes between the two candidates, Fiona Phillips and Andrew Constance, have swung over the past week.

But on Tuesday afternoon, Labor said it was comfortable with its representative, Ms Phillips, retaining the seat after her lead increased to 222 votes.

“The NSW Labor Party has made the decision to call me to the Gilmore seat,” said Ms Phillips, the sitting MP. he told ABC.

‘We have again seen a strong trend towards me absentee voting, which is very unlikely, and I am delighted with the result.

“The last week has been very heartbreaking and very hard and there has been a lot of interest in Gilmore, people have been stopping me on the street and making me want to cross the line.”

More than 88 per cent of the votes in Gilmore have been counted, giving Labor the confidence to reclaim the seat.

The Australian Electoral Commission has not yet called the seat, but Phillips appears to be winning the majority of absentee voters, a Labor source said.

Ms Phillips has been neck and neck with former NSW Liberal MP Andrew Constance.

Constance, who served as transport minister during his time on former premier Gladys Berejiklian’s frontbench, left state politics to fight for a federal seat.

Ms Phillips congratulated Mr Constance on a well-fought campaign.

‘I want to congratulate my opponent Andrew Constance and all the candidates in the election. “It’s been a very hard time for anyone,” he said.