The Nationals will represent a wider range of interests than just those of the farmers who founded them when they join the Liberals in government.
Party leader Warren Truss - himself a former farmer - says agriculture is only part of an evolving rural and regional Australia.
Mining, manufacturing and tourism are the lifeblood of many regional towns and the diversity of Nationals' candidates in this election reflects this changing identity.
"That's what the Nationals are: the voice of regional Australia and the only party solely fighting in Canberra for the regions to get their fair share," Mr Truss said this month.
The veteran Nationals MP - who will become deputy prime minister after the coalition's election win on Saturday - ran a hard campaign.
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The 64-year-old travelled 30,000km and visited more than 50 regional towns over five weeks in a signature grassroots focus featuring face-to-face meets and a "think local, vote national" message.
The work paid off, with the Nationals sweeping up at least two extra seats in the lower house of parliament after riding a 3.51 per cent swing to the coalition across Australia.
This week, prime minister-elect Tony Abbott will begin to divide the portfolio spoils for his new government.
The Liberals may want to keep the traditional Nationals trade portfolio for themselves because some regard the Nationals as too protectionist but Mr Truss has played down any potential conflict.
He says the Nationals leader - who traditionally handles trade - should have a domestic portfolio, but would argue for the party to hold a senior trade-related position.
The Nationals reclaimed the NSW rural electorate of Lyne and neighbouring New England - formerly held by independents Rob Oakeshott and Tony Windsor respectively - and are likely to win the nearby Labor-held seat of Page.
Too close to call by Sunday afternoon are the Labor Queensland seat of Capricornia and veteran Labor MP Warren Snowdon's Northern Territory seat of Lingiari.
If these three seats come through, the Nationals could end up with 16 lower house seats - their best outcome since 1996.
Mr Truss on Sunday described the party's performance as "magnificent".
The party had set its sights on regional Labor electorates held by a margin of seven per cent or less to boost its numbers to a possible 18.
But they may risk losing the massive Western Australian electorate of O'Connor, which was vacated by retiring WA National MP Tony Crook, to the Liberals.
High-profile former Nationals senator Barnaby Joyce will return to Canberra, this time as a lower house MP after winning New England as expected.
Gastroenterologist David Gillespie took Lyne, the neighbouring electorate vacated by retiring independent Mr Oakeshott, after falling just short against him in 2010.
