In the 27 years since it was first contested, the sunny seat of Ballina has known only one MP, but counts on Saturday night showed the sunshine could finally turn Green.
With 51.2 per cent of the votes counted, Ballina showed a 30 per cent swing from the Nationals to Greens candidate Tamara Smith.
Labor looked set for a safe gain at around 8.30pm on Saturday, but by 9pm after preference counts showed Ms Smith with 56.4 per cent of the votes, to Nationals' Kris Beavis' 43.6 per cent.
Labor's Paul Spooner conceded defeat to Tamara Smith on Saturday night.
Retiring National Don Page has sat in the seat since 1988 and said he would be disappointed to see Mr Beavis lose the race.
The Nationals won Ballina on a 25 per cent margin in 2011, but the issue of coal seam ignited a swing in the north coast seat.
In Sydney Mike Baird has called the election a referendum on privatisation, but standing proudly in her own school first-time Greens candidate and English teacher Tamara Smith said: "in Ballina, it's a referendum on CSG."
Labor's Paul Spooner was relying on Greens preferences to cripple the Nationals' 24.6 per cent margin, a task he managed early on in the count.
"For the first time in decades it's really anyone's game," said Ms Smith, resplendent in a green dress on a typically sticky afternoon in Ballina.
The melting-pot seat includes the conservative community in Ocean Shores, the majority-green population of Mullumbimby and the eclectic mix that makes up Byron Bay.
Upgrades on the Pacific Highway, healthcare and education have all been top concerns for voters.
One of Mr Beavis' biggest ticket items is the promise of a $40 million 'super school', which would merge Southern Cross K-12 School with Ballina High.
The Greens have committed $36 million to Ballina High School while Labor's Paul Spooner has promised $30 million to education broadly.
Mr Spooner campaigned heavily against the West Byron development, a residential development approved last year. He is committed to reversing that if elected.
At home outside the Suffolk Park Community Hall on Saturday afternoon Mr Spooner welcomed voters among a sea of Greens, saying he expected to see "the biggest swing we've ever witnessed against the Nationals on the north coast."
Mr Beavis told party volunteers on Saturday evening, "It's going to be a sleepless night tonight."
He shared Ms Smiths view that it was "going to come down to postal votes and prepoll."
