Election results 2019: Jamie Christie most successful independent in Canberra in recent memory

The independent candidate in the ACT's southern seat of Bean is the best-performing independent House of Representatives candidate in the territory's recent memory.

Dr Christie, an emergency medicine specialist and self-described political novice, got 8.4 per cent of the primary vote in the seat, better than any independent candidate running in the ACT since at least the 1980s.

It was a surprising result for a man who said he had no idea what he was doing and no campaign plan.

"I've never been involved in any political party, I've never been a political staffer, I've never been a member," Dr Christie said.

"I think it could be said that the left side focuses a little bit more on welfare at a state level and the Liberals are a bit more about effort and personal responsibility. And my personal sense is that both are necessary."

Dr Christie said he knew it was unlikely he would be elected to the seat, but as the campaign progressed felt he had become a real contender.

With the help of someone to run his social media and a campaign manager, Dr Christie's self-funded tilt has impressed even experienced political campaigners.

The last time an independent was elected to represent the ACT was in 1949, when Lewis Nott was elected on the strength of Liberal preferences.

After getting 7068 formal first-preference votes in counting so far, Dr Christie could be eligible for more than $19,400 of electoral funding.

The first campaign stop for Dr Christie was Norfolk Island, where residents received him with "cautious curiosity", and ultimately rewarded him with 37 votes, or 13.36 per cent of the booth.

Economist and Norfolk Island resident Chris Nobbs said people he had spoken to appreciated a candidate had turned up and made himself available to voters.

"The party politics like you have in Australia doesn't actually rate here, people don't see the world in terms of Liberal and National or Labor and Greens," Dr Nobbs said.

After a good reception on Norfolk Island, Dr Christie, who had decided to run in January after years of being fed up with political infighting and a lack of proper leadership, felt he had the ability to campaign properly.

He said the campaign was "a bit of free fall, and lurching about rather than any sort of controlled descent or sense of what ought to have been happening for most of it".

On a day when the snow was perfect, Dr Christie went over the edge on a double black diamond ski run.

"Then I realised why it was a double black diamond and not just what I was used to doing, and there was no way back," he said.

"And so the experience of campaigning was a bit like that."

Although he started without a plan, Dr Christie knew he had to appeal to disaffected Labor and Liberal voters. With swings away from both major parties in the electorate, that's where Dr Christie picked up his votes.

Dr Christie grew up in Canberra, studied medicine at Sydney University and then worked at Canberra hospitals as part of a 30-year career in emergency medicine.

Now he is considering his future after polling well, though he still isn't sure what's next. There's plenty to take in for a first-time candidate.

"The result I got is a very disturbing statement about our parties' engagement with voters," he said.