The stations closed at 8pm local time (0300 AEST Friday) 12 hours after voting began.
There were no official figures on the turnout but state-run Kuwait TV reported that more than 80 percent on voters in many of the 25 constituencies took part despite searing temperatures close to 50 degrees Celsius.
Kuwaiti women turned out in force to vote for the first time in parliamentary elections in the oil-rich Gulf state after a heated campaign focused on electoral reform and corruption.
Women voters, who represent 57 percent of the eligible electorate, rushed to start queuing in front of polling stations from early in the morning.
Outside Nafissa bint al-Hassan school, in Sabah al-Salem tribal district - dubbed the "mother of all districts" because of its size, women clad in black abaya robes were lined up under a blazing sun.
"I insisted on being the first to vote. I am so happy that I could not sleep last night," said Zahra Ramadan Benbehani, 54, who arrived in a wheelchair pushed by her daughter.
Twenty-eight women are among 249 candidates running for a four-year term in the 50-seat legislative body.
First results were expected by midnight local time (0700 AEST Friday).
Female candidates sounded jubilant, with some saying they would still be happy even if they did not win a seat.
"Today, Kuwaiti women will write history. Kuwait will be proud of its women," said candidate Rula Dashti as she walked around female voters at a polling station, embracing each of them and urging them to vote for her.
Since winning full political rights a year ago, some female candidates said they faced intimidation during the campaign.
One of them said she had even received death threats which forced her to withdraw her candidacy.
The election is being held against the backdrop of a political crisis between the government and parliament that led Emir Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah to dissolve the chamber on May 21.
The elections followed the fiercest campaign in 44 years of Kuwaiti parliamentary democracy, as the opposition bids to boost its reform agenda, which includes slashing the number of constituencies to fight corruption.