As of Sunday night, with almost 85 per cent of the vote counted, Mr Hulls had recorded 61.5 per cent of the two-party preferred vote, with Liberal candidate James Buonopane pulling 38.4 per cent – up from 33.4 at the last election.
The Greens had another strong showing at this year’s poll, with candidate Gwen Lee polling 8.9 per cent of the primary vote, while Family First’s Mark Markovic followed a fair way behind on 5.5 per cent.
The result is likely to drop Niddrie down from a very safe Labor seat to one that borders on marginal, with the swing taking Mr Hulls’ majority from 16.6 per cent down to an estimated 11 per cent once all the votes have been counted.
Mr Hulls has held the seat since 1996, when he took over Niddrie from prominent Labor powerbroker Bob Sercombe, who now holds the federal seat of Maribyrnong.
