Teal candidate Nicolette Boele has seized the once blue-ribbon seat of Bradfield after a recount of the north shore seat, beating Liberal hopeful Gisele Kapterian by just 27 votes in one of the tightest elections in history.

While the Australia Electoral Commission has not yet publicly confirmed the result, several Liberal sources closely involved in Bradfield campaign confirmed that Boele was victorious.

Boele won the seat on her second attempt, after almost unseating former Liberal frontbencher Paul Fletcher in 2022. She continued campaigning fulltime for three years, styling herself as the shadow MP for Bradfield.

She will join fellow NSW teals Allegra Spender (Wentworth), Sophie Scamps (Mackellar) and Zali Steggall (Warringah) on the crossbench.

The loss of Bradfield will be a huge blow to the Liberals and the party is considering petitioning the Court of Disputed Returns in a bid to have the election declared void.

So confident were the Liberals that they would hold Bradfield, Kapterian travelled to Canberra to vote in the party’s leadership ballot last month, which saw Sussan Ley become the first federal female Liberal leader.

Ley then included Kapterian in her shadow frontbench, despite the recount not being completed.

The count for Bradfield has been a rollercoaster ride for Boele and Kapterian. The seat was called for Boele on election night by the ABC and Nine, only for Kapterian to forge ahead on the back of postal votes to be in a winnable position several days later.