The federal seat of Hindmarsh has been returned into Labor’s hands after its candidate defeated the sitting Liberal MP

Former Labor MP Steve Georganas has a 582-vote lead over sitting Liberal member Matt Williams and SA Labor has now posted a Twitter message of congratulations on his “outstanding victory”.

Opposition Leader Bill Shorten congratulated his candidate and said Mr Georganas ran a “sensational” campaign.

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“Steve Georganas is a fighter,” Mr Shorten told reporters in Adelaide.

“I’m looking forward to, as indeed are all his caucus colleagues, to having … the hero of Hindmarsh, back in Canberra with the Labor caucus.”

The former factory assembly line worker and taxi driver previously held the seat, but was ousted by voters in 2013 when Tony Abbott swept to power with a significant national swing.

“It is a great honour and a privilege to be re-elected to represent the seat that I was born in, the seat that I’ve worked in all my life, and the seat that I have represented previously,” Mr Georganas said.
Mr Williams has held the seat since 2013 and told the ABC he was not yet prepared to concede defeat.

He said there were still thousands of votes to be counted, and while there was a “lot of ground to make up”, postals had been falling his way.

Mr Williams has most postal votes going his way, but absentee votes are favouring Labor.