DELAYS are expected in declaring the successful candidates in the 2020 Queensland local government election after an unusual lead up to the vote amid coronavirus fears.
The sheer number of people applied for postal votes ahead of today's election, means results may be slower coming in.
More than 1.2 million Queenslanders opted to vote early at pre-polling, while 40,000 electors registered for telephone voting.
Another 570,000 people applied for a postal vote, with 120,000 of them returned before March 28.
Postal votes must be returned to the Electoral Commission Queensland before April 7 to be included in the count, however, postal voters are urged to return their postal ballots as soon as possible.
In total, over 1.8 million people, or about 55 per cent of eligible voters chose to stay away from polling booths on the day.
"Due to the large number of Queenslanders who voted during the early voting period, the expected numbers of people voting on election day has been significantly reduced," the ECQ said.
However, the large amount of postal votes and social distancing measures that will be put in place for the count, means the counting and declaration process will likely take longer than usual.
A preliminary count will begin on election night after polling booths close at 6pm, with the official count beginning on Sunday morning.
Successful candidates for both mayoral and councillor positions will only be declared when it becomes mathematically impossible for anyone else to win.