In the election result that shocked most pollsters, the Coalition was re-elected, with Dr Gillespie following the trend set by numerous National Party members to not only hold their seat, but to do so convincingly.

At the time of going to press Dr Gillespie's margin had increased to more than 15 per cent.

"It's not clear what the final picture will be until much later in the week but it's a great result," he said.

With 82.5 per cent of the votes counted on Monday, Dr Gillespie received 50.45 per cent of the primary vote with his closest rival the Australian Labor Party's Phil Costa receiving 24.22 of the primary vote.

Dungog Shire has not come out of the election campaign empty handed.

Dr Gillespie announced $1.4million funding for Summerhill and Tillegra bridges in the Coalition's last federal budget handed down in April.

In the final week of the election he made an election commitment of $8.8million funding for the Brig O'Johnston Bridge at Clarence Town if the Coalition was re-elected.

"With the $5.5million on the table from the state government for the bridge it will mean it will now happen," he said.

Dr Gillespie said he was keen to start working to ensure commitments were rolled out.

This included $25million for the Buckets Way upgrade and $20million for Clarence Town Road upgrade between Dungog and Raymond Terrace.

This is Dr Gillespie's third term in federal parliament.

After running unsuccessfully against Rob Oakeshott in 2010, he was elected in 2013 and retained his seat in 2016, when a re-distribution of electorates saw Lyne's southern boundary moved down to cover Lorn and Bolwarra.

A gastroenterologist, he has held assistant ministries in rural health, health and children and families in the last term.