David Pocock poised to take ACT's second Senate seat

But independent David Pocock was not ready to declare victory on Sunday afternoon, despite early counting putting him in a likely position to oust Liberal Zed Seselja.

"I'm really proud of the campaign that we ran and I was blown away by the support," Mr Pocock said.

"We're in a good position but who knows, there's a lot of votes to be counted still.

"I've really enjoyed the last two weeks and I'm just waiting to see how long it takes to get a much clearer picture, which we should have midweek I am guessing."

The reason Mr Pocock is reluctant to call victory is the large number of postal and pre-poll ballots, which are yet to be counted.

History has suggested these votes have been kind to the Liberals and Senator Seselja is pinning his hopes of re-election on these ballots.

Having blocked the media from his post-election function on Saturday night, Senator Seselja made his first public statement after the election via a post on Facebook. He said the results were disappointing for the Liberal Party across the nation. Commenting on his own chances, he said it was too early to determine a result.

"Much of the vote is yet to be counted, including significant numbers of pre-poll and postal ballots, which traditionally provide a boost to the Liberal count," Senator Seselja wrote.

"Whatever the result may be, I am proud of the campaign we ran in the ACT."

ACT Senate votes were not counted on Sunday. Counting is set to resume on Monday but it will be minimal. Full counting will resume on Tuesday.

Senator Seselja was nearly 2000 votes in front of Mr Pocock in early vote counting on Saturday night, but with only 23.41 per cent of the primary vote the senator was far from achieving a quota of 33 per cent.

If this trend continues, preference votes will be crucial in determining the final outcome, which is likely to benefit Mr Pocock. He is expected to receive a large share of preferences from the Greens and fellow independent candidate Kim Rubenstein.

Mr Pocock had received 22.08 per cent of the final vote in the early counting, with 43 per cent of ballots counted on Saturday night.

Labor Senator Katy Gallagher has already effectively retained her Senate seat. She was way out in front with 33.19 per cent of the vote, close to the quota needed to be elected. She thanked Canberrans in a social media post on Sunday.

"I'm ready to get to work for my community and to implement Labor's plan for a better future," she said.

Mr Pocock's campaign received backing from climate-focused group Climate 200, which is led by Australian businessman Simon Holmes a Court.

Climate 200 backed the so-called "teal" independent candidates who have been successful in winning at least nine inner-city seats from the Liberals.

Mr Pocock said the independents' success showed people, not parties, could represent the community. He said the make-up of the next Parliament was good for democracy.

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"If you look at what Cathy McGowan started in Indi, the result of that is people realising that you can actually have people representing you that are there to actually represent you, not a party," he said.

"That's a really powerful thing and I've certainly experienced so much more engagement and excitement about politics and how it can actually be about people again, rather than factional fights and toeing the party line so I think it's really good for democracy."

Senator Seselja also noted the influence of Climate-200 backed candidate in his post.

"In the ACT, as we saw in other Liberal seats across the country, we faced an extremely well-funded and targeted Climate 200 campaign for the Senate seat," he said.

"These coordinated campaigns resulted in the loss of many traditionally safe Liberal seats. It also delivered a swing against Liberal and Labor in the ACT Senate race, though the exact nature of that swing is unknown, as there is much counting to come."

One of Mr Pocock's key election pitches was for a new stadium and convention centre in Canberra. He said he was keen to be involved in constructive conversations with the incoming government if he was elected to the Senate.

"The convention centre is something the business community has been calling for for more than a decade now. As the nation's capital it makes sense to actually have a convention centre where you can hold big conventions," he said.

"I would certainly want to be involved in the sort of constructive conversations around that and see how that could actually happen."

Mr Pocock said the success of his campaign showed there was an appetite in Canberra to have someone who would stand up for the ACT. He said he wanted closer collaboration with the territory government.

"We clearly need more collaboration between the federal and territory government, I'll work with whoever forms the next government to ensure that we stop missing out and there is more of a focus on Canberra," he said.

"I'd be in a great position to actual represent the ACT and use that to ensure that policy that comes through is in the best interests of the ACT and the kind of future we want."

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