NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian has hit the polling booths in all three seats up for grabs in this weekend's by-elections as she braces for huge swings against the Liberal party.
Voters have been taking to the polls in Manly, North Shore and Gosford to replace ex-premier Mike Baird, former health minister Jillian Skinner and Labor MP Kathy Smith following their resignations earlier this year.
Ms Berejiklian, who's facing her first litmus test after three months at the helm, says the reception she's received at polling booths has been heartening.
"Today has been extremely positive. People are very happy to see me and talk to me," she said.
The premier chose to make her first campaign stop with Liberal candidate for North Shore Felicity Wilson as booths opened in Wollstonecraft on Saturday morning.
The long-held Liberal electorate is at serious risk of falling to an independent due to community anger over the government's controversial council mergers policy.
Ms Wilson also came under scrutiny this week for making misleading statements about how long she had lived in the area.
Anti-merger Mosman councillor Carolyn Corrigan is among four other hopefuls vying for the blue-ribbon seat and will be Ms Wilson's key challenger.
Ms Corrigan says realises she's facing a "David and Goliath battle" but is hopeful.
"The general mood is very positive and I'm quietly confident that we could just swing this over the line," she told AAP as she campaigned with up to 200 local volunteers in the electorate on Saturday.
Council mergers were one of the biggest issues on voters minds, she said.
"A lot also feel like they've been taken for granted. When it's a safe seat they feel they get very little in terms of infrastructure," Ms Corrigan said.
The premier committed to building a tunnel to bypass the notoriously gridlocked Spit Bridge, which links to the city's northern beaches.
Further north, the premier's predecessor Mr Baird threw his weight behind Manly Liberal candidate James Griffin by handing out how-to-vote cards outside polling booths.
"It really feels like the future," Mr Baird told the ABC as he greeted voters.
The Liberal party is expected to retain the seat with some backlash.
In Gosford, Labor's Paralympian candidate Liesl Tesch is the favourite among six hopefuls.
Ms Berejiklian made a last-ditch bid to shore up support in the Central Coast electorate on Saturday, despite previously saying the Liberals had "zero chance" of securing the Labor-held electorate.
Ms Tesch will be the first NSW MP to use a wheelchair if elected.
