Maryanne Stuart says she will be 'a servant to the people' after winning Heathcote for Labor

Ms Stuart had a stunning win in Saturday's election, gaining nearly 44 per cent of the primary vote, with a projection of about 60 per cent once preferences are distributed.

Liberal Lee Evans gained 34.31 per cent of the primary vote and The Greens candidate Riach Cooper 12.96 per cent.

Ms Stuart's campaign manager believes she could win every polling booth and will have a margin of about 10 per cent going into the next election.

"I feel excited, relieved, proud," Ms Stuart told the Leader on Saturday night as her team celebrated at Tradies Helensburgh.

Asked what type of local member she would be, Ms Stuart replied, "People can see the hard work I have put in, and they know me as someone who will deliver".

"I want to be accessible and available to people, I see myself as a servant to the people.

"It will be an honour to serve them over the next four years - I will have the door open, have the jug on."

Ms Stuart said she was surprised by the extent of the win.

"It is my third time, so you take nothing for granted and fight for every vote," she said.

"I felt it was different this time. The number of people who said they were voting Labor for the first time after being Liberal life-time voters was amazing".

Addressing supporters, Ms Stuart said, "We have brought Labor back to Sutherland Shire and the northern Illawarra".

"This is your victory", she told volunteers who handed out leaflets on at train stations, voting centres, doorknocked and helped in others ways.

Young Labor and the trade unions were groups singled out for their support.

Ms Stuart said she heard the trade unions "loudly" and would "advocate strongly" for them.

"People say we won because of the redistribution," she said. "We won because we stuck to it. We won because we wanted people to have good quality of life, access to TAFE, we want to have our teachers, we want to have fire protection, we want to keep public assets in public hands.

"This has gone in 12 years from a seat with a 19 per cent margin to what now looks like 10 per cent plus. It's been team, it's been passion it's because of our values for equality, decency, respect and opportunity and to make sure we leave nobody in the community behind.

"We have all worked so hard for so long, so this is everybody's win".

Ms Stuart also thanked her family and friends and concluded, "To anyone who has a dream and a passion...it's taken me 20 years but I got there".