It is expected to be another week before Mount Gambier finds out who will lead its electorate in the South Australian Parliament.

Independent candidate Don Pegler and Liberal Steve Perryman are both neck and neck after Saturday’s poll, forcing a recount of all votes yesterday along with the nominal distribution of preferences.

The returning officer for the seat of Mount Gambier, Bill Russon, says this week will be taken up tallying votes lodged at the early voting centre and by post.

“Once all of those postal votes have been processed and counted, not just postal but declaration votes as they’re called, have been counted, it will be … provided everything works out following that weekend, will be the actual final numbers,” he said.

For the two major players, the countdown to a result is now underway.

Mr Perryman told supporters late on Saturday night he is confident he has done all he can to get over the line.

“I’m 100 per cent satisfied that we have run a very strong campaign … a very professional campaign,” he said.

Mr Pegler was firmly focused on the future when he addressed an up-beat crowd at Mount Gambier’s RSL Bowling Club.

“If I am successful, to those who didn’t vote for me, they can rest assured that I will be consulting with them too because I’m here to represent all the people of Mount Gambier,” he said.

It is estimated that more than 3,000 votes are still to be counted in the electorate.

MacKillop

MacKillop is now the safest in the state after Liberal Mitch Williams was returned to seat for a fourth term.

Mr Williams says he is thrilled with Saturday’s result.

“The people of MacKillop have chosen to support me strongly yet again and I’m delighted with that and obviously humbled by it,” he said.

“More broadly across the state we had a huge swing towards us which is fantastic. I think we’ve won the popular vote right across the state, unfortunately that’s not going to translate into enough seats to put us into government.”

According to the ABC computer, Labor has 25 seats, the Liberals have 18, and there will be four independents.

But the Liberals are not officially conceding defeat, nor is Labor claiming victory.