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There will be four new faces around the table when the next Dunedin City Council meets for the first time later this month.
Jules Radich, Carmen Houlahan, Sophie Barker and Steve Walker have all been elected as city councillors, based on 95% of votes counted, it has been confirmed.
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The new councillors were all looking forward to starting their new roles.
Cr Houlahan said she was "really excited" to be elected, and had been told the good news in a phone call from council chief executive Sue Bidrose.
"She said 'get ready to have a party tonight'," Cr Houlahan said.
"I'm delighted. It's been a lot of work and I'm just really, really delighted with the results."
She also congratulated other elected councillors, and sent her commiserations to those who had missed out, "particularly my friend Damian Newell".
"My heart goes out to him."
Cr Radich said he was also "very pleased" by the results, and looking forward to working with Mayor-elect Aaron Hawkins and his fellow councillors "to move Dunedin forward".
The mix of new and incumbent councillors promised to make for a "well balanced" council for the coming term, he believed.
"It will make for good debate and I think we will be able to reach good consensus on how best to move forward," he said.
Cr Barker was also "excited and pleased" to be elected, saying there was strong competition for seats.
It would be "very interesting" to join the governance side of the council - as well as joining her partner Cr Jim O'Malley at the council table - having previously worked as a council staff member.
Cr Walker - a Labour Party candidate - said he was pleased by his own result, which was a "massive relief", but also happy to see an improved gender mix on the council and the election of a progressive Green Party mayor in Aaron Hawkins.
"I think we should be proud of the fact that as a city we have got a very young, progressive mayor,'' he said.
Among incumbent councillors, Cr Newell has been voted out, while the planned departures of Crs Kate Wilson and Conrad Stedman, together with outgoing mayor Dave Cull, freed up three other seats.
Other incumbents to hold on to their seats were Crs Lee Vandervis - the highest polling councillor - followed by Crs Christine Garey, Andrew Whiley, Jim O'Malley, David Benson-Pope, Marie Laufiso, Rachel Elder, Chris Staynes, Doug Hall and Mike Lord.
They will sit alongside mayor-elect Aaron Hawkins, a Green Party candidate and formerly an incumbent councillor.
The full council (in results order) is:
Aaron Hawkins (Mayor)
Lee Vandervis
Christine Garey
Andrew Whiley
Jim O'Malley
Jules Radich
David Benson-Pope
Marie Laufiso
Carmen Houlahan
Sophie Barker
Rachel Elder
Chris Staynes
Steve Walker
Doug Hall
Mike Lord