La Trobe remained too close to call yesterday.

With about 75 per cent of the vote counted, Labor's Rodney Cocks was just ahead of incumbent Jason Wood of the Liberals with postal and absentee votes yet to be counted.

For Mr Wood, the night proved bittersweet. While he watched Australian voters turn against his party, locally his polling proved surprising.

Pre-polling during the campaign had the incumbent well behind his counterpart Cocks. But on Saturday, the pair were neck and neck.

"I wasn't expecting to win. At the same time you don't give up," Mr Wood said.

Mr Cocks said it would go down to the wire.

"I said at the start of the campaign it was going to be close."

HOLT:

In 2004, the Holt electorate had a 6.4 per cent swing against Labor.

But this federal election was a very different story, with an 11.19 per cent swing to incumbent Labor MP Anthony Byrne.

Mr Byrne, who was up against Liberal candidate Emanuele Cicchiello, said WorkChoices and rising costs of living were key factors in taking Labor to power.

"People in Holt clearly felt betrayed by John Howard when he introduced WorkChoices.

"I met people who had lost their jobs, and someone who lost his job because he asked for a pay rise."

Mr Byrne said voters were also dissuaded from voting Liberal because of the leadership arrangement between John Howard and Peter Costello. "If Costello was elected Prime Minister he would have made further reforms to WorkChoices."