He might be more than 2000 votes in front of the Nick Xenophon Team but the Liberal incumbent in the South Australian seat of Grey is not yet claiming victory.
Rowan Ramsey says the indications are quite encouraging, but there is still more counting to be done, especially from booths in the cities.
"It's got a fair way to go but certainly the trends at this stage look pretty good," he told ABC radio on Wednesday.
Mr Ramsey said he saw the knife-edge result coming, given the rise of the Nick Xenophon Team.
"I didn't feel in the election that I was actually fighting directly with the candidate. It feels like you were fighting directly with Nick Xenophon," he said.
The incumbent said he couldn't remember a campaign that he was entirely happy with, but his team tried its best to localise the coalition's campaign.
"Perhaps that wasn't overly successful either, but at the end of the day I think we've done enough at least to hang on to the seat."
