Voting day in NT 'remarkably quiet': AEC

After an eight-week election campaign, voters have been subdued in the NT, with the AEC saying the day has been unusually incident-free.

Voting day in the Northern Territory has been unusually and remarkably quiet, the Australian Electoral Commission says.

AEC NT officer Mick Sherry said shortly before polls closed that the day had been surprisingly free of incidents.

"It's been remarkably quiet, in our view there's been some very minor issues, which we expect on polling day, but no complaints about queue times, no real complaints about behaviour of party officials," he told AAP on Saturday afternoon.

Voters had also behaved themselves, Mr Sherry said.

"No issues have been raised with me at all; all I can say it's been unusually quiet, and pleasantly quiet."

It remains to be seen how that bodes for the candidates of Solomon, who earlier on Saturday morning cast their votes in Darwin and Palmerston.

The Country Liberals' Natasha Griggs has held the seat since 2010 and is on a thin margin of 1.4 per cent, hoping to fight off Labor's candidate, former soldier Luke Gosling.

She said it had been a long eight weeks of campaigning.

"I'm really proud of the job I've done as the member for Solomon and I really hope the people of Darwin and Palmerston put their faith in me once more because there's still lots more to be done," she said.

Solomon is a key marginal seat, she said, pointing to promised investments in defence and for developing the north of Australia, of which Darwin is the capital.

Whichever way the vote goes, "we just know it's going to be tight, it's always been tight", she said.

Mr Gosling said Labor can't win the election unless it wins Solomon.

"We will ensure the transitions our country requires to move to the jobs of the future whilst protecting Medicare, making sure our kids have got the resources they need at school, and I'm very proud of the policies our Labor Party has taken to the Australian people," he said.

Labor's Member for Lingiari Warren Snowdon voted in Alice Springs and has a 0.9 per cent margin over the CLP's Tina MacFarlane but is expected to hold on to his seat.


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Source: AAP


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