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Labor's Linda Burney has made the leap from state to federal politics, claiming the seat of Barton and becoming the first Indigenous woman to enter the house of representatives.
Ms Burney paid tribute to the multicultural community of Barton, which was "back in the hands of Labor", and had created history.
"There was some ugliness at the booth and the kitchen sink was thrown at us in the last few days," she told Sky News.
Barton - lost in 2013 to the Liberals - had been a tight battleground, despite becoming notionally Labor on a boundary change this year.
The Turnbull family's yum cha excursion to Hurstville in the final days of the campaign, with granddaughter Isla in tow, was chosen to straddle the boundary of Chinese communities in Barton and Banks.
Labor campaigners said a cluster of marginal multicultural seats - Reid, Banks and Barton - had been buffeted by "dirty" attacks on same-sex marriage, Safe Schools and asylum seekers via the Chinese language messaging app WeChat, in particular.
Fred Nile's Christian Democratic Party was behind the Chinese language messages, which urged voters not to vote Labor because Labor and the Greens wanted to legalise same-sex marriage within 100 days, and claimed the "gay movement" was targeting their kindergarten children.
The WeChat messages directed voters to preference the Liberals second behind the CDP.
A CDP spokesman said the messages didn't carry the CDP authorisation because they had been created by "passionate supporters" from Chinese Christian churches.
"They are worried about losing religious freedom, and changes to marriage, and the Safe Schools threat to children and even preschoolers," the CDP spokesman said.
Another WeChat message said Labor would bring 30,000 illegal migrants into Australia and there would be no places for Chinese families.
Labor didn't expect to win back Reid from first-term Liberal MP Craig Laundy, who was bolstered with repeated visits to his seat from Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and Premier Mike Baird.
Before booths closed, Labor had been pessimistic about winning back the Liberals' most marginal NSW seat of Banks, but last night it was too close to call.
Ms Burney said: "There is a sea of red across the inner west."
