Just after 9pm, Sriranganathan spoke to Greens party faithful, telling them he did not “really care” about the result of the mayoral race.

“I’m not even going to look at what the swing is or how many votes we ended up winning,” he said.

“When I put my hand up to run, it was to support the people behind me (the Greens candidates) and to help us get a few more seats here in this council chamber.”

At the Greens’ party in Milton, the former councillor said his campaign was not about becoming mayor, but about growing the Greens vote.

“It looks like we’ve got a swing to the Greens in almost every single suburb,” he said.

“This was the most radical political platform … that the Greens have ever run anywhere in Australia and we have won seats, we have won votes.”

Labor’s Price, speaking to Nine at 8.45pm, said she felt “great”.

“I’m so proud of the whole team and the campaign we’ve run, everything has been so positive and I’m so proud of everybody,” she said.

“I think we’ve made a positive influence across the city and running against five men, essentially is what I’ve done, and that’s difficult in itself.”