Successful candidates are being announced for more than 70 local authorities across Aotearoa with further results expected over the next few hours.

Local elections are underway. (Source: Supplied)

Voting closed at midday and by 1.30pm Invercargill's new mayor was announced, close behind was the announcement of Auckland's new mayor.

The results of tighter contests could still change between Saturday and when preliminary results are declared in the coming days. Progress results are normally declared with over 90% of voting papers counted.

This year, the introduction of Māori wards to 32 local authorities will be keenly watched by observers alongside competitive mayoral races in most major centres.

File: Pōneke Wellington residents drop off their ballot papers before voting closes at midday, Saturday 8 October. (Source: 1News)

Auckland Council published results just after 2pm with Wayne Brown winning the mayoralty race with 144,619 votes, ahead of Efeso Collins by 54,808 votes so far.

READ MORE: Centre-right Wayne Brown to become Auckland's new mayor

Phil Mauger has won the race to become Christchurch's next mayor. It's the first time in nine years the city will be getting a new mayor - incumbent Lianne Dalziel announced in July last year she wouldn't be seeking a fourth term.

With 90% of votes counted former National MP Nick Smith is set to become Nelson's new mayor. Smith is set to beat former Nelson City councillor Kerry Neal and incumbent councillors Tim Skinner, Rohan O’Neill-Stevens and Matt Lawrey.

READ MORE: Christchurch mayoral results released as Nick Smith wins Nelson

Progress results indicate that incumbent Paula Southgate is set to enter her second term as mayor of Hamilton City. The current mayor has received 13,693 votes with her opponent and current deputy mayor, Geoff Taylor, behind on 12,395 votes.

Tory Whanau has beaten Labour's Rongotai MP Paul Eagle and incumbent mayor Andy Foster to become the city's second Greens-aligned mayor. She will also become the first Māori mayor of the city.

READ MORE: Tory Whanau claims victory in Wellington mayoral race

Incumbent deputy mayor Nobby Clark won the race to become Invercargill's mayor as Sir Tim Shadbolt bows out of local politics after two decades.

READ MORE: Shadbolt bows out as Nobby Clark wins Invercargill mayoralty

With 90% of the returned votes now counted, Jules Radich the one-term Dunedin City councillor is set to unseat incumbent Aaron Hawkins who trails in second place. Candidate Sophie Barker is placing third with Lee Vandervis coming in fourth.

Tania Tapsell will become the first Māori woman to be Rotorua's mayor. The 30-year-old attracted 6254 votes, a lead on closest rival Fletcher Tabuteau of 2862 votes.

The last Māori mayor was Harry Dansey, in 1941.

Incumbent Campbell Barry has won, with 12,537 votes. Independent candidate and former council chief executive Tony Stallinger is behind him on 11,272 votes.

File: Voting locations around Pōneke/Wellington, Saturday 8 October. (Source: 1News)

First-time candidate Andrew Tripe has beaten incumbent mayor Hamish McDouall, according to preliminary results. The Labour-backed McDouall has been the mayor since 2016. Tripe, a management consultant, has 6901 votes, with McDouall on 4981.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has reacted to the local election results in a post on social media. Labour-endorsed mayoral candidates have lost in Auckland and Wellington, while progressive candidates have lost in Christchurch and Dunedin.

"We won't always agree, but I absolutely believe we all get into politics with very similar motivations - to do the best by our communities," she said.

Greens-aligned Tory Whanau won the Wellington mayoralty, ahead of the Labour-endorsed Paul Eagle.

Jacinda Ardern (file photo). (Source: 1News)

"Congratulations to everyone elected to local government today and a special congratulations to the new mayors in our major centres."

“The Government works closely with local government, and as we move forward with our economic recovery we’ll keep doing that, especially as we both face the long-term challenges of needing to grow our housing stock, keep investing in transport, public transport and our ageing water infrastructure. And as the challenges of climate change and the severe weather events it brings continue, we need to join forces to reduce its impact, prepare and recover."

Ardern said she was "keen to work with local government on how we make voting more accessible." Preliminary voting turnout statistics this year do not show an increase on the previous local elections.

Voters queue to cast last-minute ballots

Voters who didn't get their papers in time were among those who were queuing to cast special votes this morning.

"Little last-minute of course, but definitely something that needs to be done," one Auckland voter told 1News.

People queuing to cast special votes in Auckland's local elections. (Source: Dileepa Fonseka )

Another said she enrolled too late to receive her ballot papers in the mail.

"But I thought even though it's literally the eleventh hour it's still worth going out and making sure that your vote counts."

It comes as voter turnout was low across the country, just hours before polls closed. In Auckland, voter turnout was 29.4% as of 5pm yesterday. That compares to 31.5% at the same time in 2019.

Democracy. Next time let's not make it so insanely time consuming and difficult for everyone to vote in New Zealand. pic.twitter.com/fgZu0jA9n2

Turnout was particularly low in lower socio-economic parts of Auckland, particularly South Auckland. The two lowest wards were Ōtara with 17.3% and Papatoetoe with 19.8%.

Contrast that with Warkworth – 43.3% and Waiheke on 40.1%.

The city's electoral officer, Dale Ofsoske, said last-minute votes would not be counted until after midday. The council has confirmed that the new votes will not be included in the progress results released later this afternoon.

“It’s an extremely busy time for us as a large number of votes have come in this morning. The queues have been snaking out the door of the Electoral Office building in central Auckland. Counting can’t begin until midday, so up until this point we’ve been sorting and validating the data," he said.

In another statement, the council added that there were lines at three of its special voting places this morning.

"Anyone in a queue at a special voting location before midday was allowed to cast a vote. Every location closed their doors at midday on the dot so anyone trying to join the queue after that time would have been turned away," it said.

Meanwhile, across the country, turnout was mixed.

Wellington, where the race between former Greens chief of staff Tory Whanau, Labour MP Paul Eagle and current mayor Andy Foster is tight, has seen just 30% of voters cast their ballot. On the final count in 2019, 41% of Wellingtonians had voted. The capital uses the STV voting system, which may mean a clear result is not known tomorrow night.

If you live in the supercity, Auckland Council's website will carry the results later this afternoon. Counts including today's votes are not expected until Monday.

Results from Wellington and Canterbury regions can be found on the Electionz website - alongside dozens of other local authorities.

Meanwhile, Hamilton City Council and other councils, whose elections are operated by Independent Election Services, will be uploading results to their own websites.