He and Country Labor candidate Bryce Wilson, the top two candidates, were positioned outside the school hall with their supporters and families, handing out pamphlets and greeting locals as they came through to vote.

By Saturday night, the Monaro electorate declared that it too was confident in Mr Barilaro, returning him with a 52.63 percent primary vote.

But outside Jerrabomberra Public School, ahead of the ballot count, Mr Barilaro said he felt "people expect certain things from their MP, and I think over the last four years I've delivered everything I said I would do and even more.

"But I'm also not arrogant," he said.

"This will be a tough fight."

He pointed to his major election commitments around education in the region.

"I think that's been my biggest focus over the last four years, a lot of investment in education.

"The idea of a new high school in Jerrabomberra and new high school in Bungendore, and a new school for special purpose in Queanbeyan.

"They are three key election commitments. I hope people will see I've got my focus on education."

Mr Wilson also said he was feeling positive.

"We've got a really strong message here in Jerrabomberra, really strong," he said.

"[For] Dunns Creek Road, the most critical piece of road infrastructure for Queanbeyan, Mike Kelly and I will put in $67.5 million each."

He also committed to replacing the 14 demountables at Jerrabomberra Public School with air-conditioned classrooms, and to upgrade the Queanbeyan basketball stadium.

A man stopped to shake Mr Wilson's hand, saying they lived on the same street.

"I'm pretty confident. I live in Jerrabomberra myself, so it's a good vibe here this morning," Mr Wilson said.

Supporters of smaller party candidates, which include the Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party's Mick Holton, the Greens' Peter Marshall, the Animal Justice Party's Frankie Seymour and independent candidate Andrew Thaler, were also on hand to pass out how-to-vote material.

Jerrabomberra locals Peter, Felicity and Jackson Kennedy enjoyed democracy sausages at the voting booth on Saturday morning.

Mr Kennedy said he'd been waiting for a high school in Jerrabomberra for a long time, since his daughter started at the primary school in 2012.

"We were hoping she would be able to transition with her friends through to high school," Mr Kennedy said.

"But she's had to go to another school and be split up because of that.

"So I'm really hoping that the high school will come about for this one [Jackson].

"When it comes to local elections versus federal, we generally don't say if we go one way in the local election [that] we'll go the same way in federal.

"We treat them as totally separate."

Mrs Kennedy said they were more interested in the issues that affected them, rather than the ones that affected people in Sydney.

"That matters more to us," she said. "Where we can effect a bit more of a local change, we try to do that."

Ella Ross has lived in Jerrabomberra most of her life.

"I play for the Queanbeyan Tigers and [Barilaro] has promised a lot to the club if he is to be re-elected, so he's probably a strong contender," Ms Ross said.

Looking towards the federal election, she said she was hoping for a change in government.

Her father Ewan Ross said he was glad to see Australians, particularly younger Australians, becoming more engaged with politics. "Before this [politicians] used to look after themselves and that's about it, but people are getting more vocal and voting accordingly," he said.

More than one million electors had already voted in the state election by the time Saturday came around. NSW Electoral Commissioner John Schmidt said 823,822 people had pre-polled.