“When we were talking about it, he just relapsed after a transplant and I didn’t expect to be doing this – I was expecting to be caring for him for at least another few years, and being by his side all the time.

“He kept on saying, ‘No, Mum, I will not be the reason you don’t win Dickson … I will not be the reason – don’t ever make me an excuse for not doing important things’.

“So I hope I’ve made him proud, because he made me proud.”

Leading the Coalition to an election for his first time, Dutton was out of the electorate for much of the campaign, leaving France and new independent candidate Ellie Smith to capitalise.

France, the daughter of former state Labor MP Peter Lawlor, got involved in politics after a life-changing accident in 2011, when she was pinned by an out-of-control car in a Brisbane shopping centre car park.

While she was able to save her son Zac, who was in a stroller, France lost her leg above the knee.

France said she wanted to use her experience of a disability to make a real difference in Canberra.

“It’s such a huge thing having a physical disability in which you can’t manage a lot of door-knocking and stuff like that,” she said.

“It’s very difficult to get preselected, and it’s very, very difficult to get across the line, so I think for the disability community, this is a really significant event that I actually got elected.

“I hope that more people with a disability follow.”

In his victory speech on Saturday night, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese congratulated Labor candidates and asked the audience to “excuse me for singling out one, who ran for the third time in Dickson: Ali France”.

That prompted chants of “Ali, Ali, Ali”.

Her newfound Labor hero status did not sit well with France, who said the real credit went to the army of party volunteers.

“I actually see all the grassroots campaigners as the heroes,” she said on Sunday.

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“There are so many people who you know have been coming out, as I said last night.

“There were people in that room [at France’s election watch party] who have been campaigning for 24 years and never skipped a beat – always supported all of the candidates, not just me.

“They’re the real heroes of the Labor Party. I want everyone to always know that people running in unwinnable seats are the heroes of the Labor Party.”

While Dickson was Labor’s most symbolic gain, the party also picked up Bonner (through candidate Kara Cook), Longman (Rhiannyn Douglas), Petrie (Emma Comer) and Forde (Rowan Holzberger) from the LNP, as well as Brisbane (Madonna Jarrett) and Griffith (Renee Coffey) from the Greens.

Labor (Matt Smith) picked up the Far North Queensland seat of Leichhardt after the retirement of long-term member Warren Entsch.

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