HUGE queues at the Lang Lang polling booth until lunchtime, errant voters turning up at the wrong voting centre in Wonthaggi (the chaos we predicted) and a busy morning across the district…

Despite the fact that more than half of the voters had posted their votes at early voting centres in the past two weeks, there was still a rush to vote on the morning of one of the most divisive state elections in recent memory.

“Vote for the $290 million Wonthaggi Hospital,” said one Jordan Crugnale supporter as she handed out a Labor how to vote card at the Wonthaggi Secondary College.

Others had a similar local spiel about promises made during the campaign.

The yellow shirts of Brett Tessari, the blue shirts of Aaron Brown’s supporters and Cullum Bugbird’s green shirts were in evidence as the crowds started to thin by lunchtime.

But there was a clear determination from the voters.

They appeared to know what they wanted, fully engaged, not taking all the how to vote cards just to be nice.

They’d made up their mind before they got there.

Even so, in the country areas, where the COVID lockdowns hadn’t been quite so severe, they weren’t as demonstrative as they were, reportedly, in the city booths.

Real pent-up anger on display as voters entered the booths to make their mark.

Some actual physical altercations as well, we heard.

So, will the state government’s harsh response to COVID make a difference, only time will tell.

But there have also been reports that the anti-Labor sentiment has translated into a higher Greens’ vote, boosted by climate change concerns.

Locally at least, it appears to be about the local issues, so what happens here is anyone’s guess but if there’s a state-wide swing against Labor, over the COVID response, it could play into the hands of the conservative parties here, making it a race between Brett Tessari of the Nationals and Aaron Brown of the Liberals in Bass where preferences will play a key role in the final outcome.

In Gippsland South District, extending north and east from Inverloch to Sale, taking in Korumburra (where the new high school is taking shape) and Leongatha (where fingers are crossed for a fix to Kamikaze Corner), Danny O’Brien of the Nationals is expected to increase his majority.