Monique Ryan has all but claimed victory in the seat of Kooyong once again, confirming the once-blue ribbon seat for the community independent movement for another three years.

Hundreds of teal-clad volunteers packed into the beer garden at the Auburn Hotel. At 11.15pm as Tina Turner’s River Deep, Mountain High rang out, the crowd parted.

Ryan emerged with her family – husband Peter and children Annabell and Patrick – and climbed a teal crepe-paper–covered podium.

Together, they lifted a sign high to an erupting crowd.

“Kooyong, we did it!” the sign read.

“What an amazing, amazing three years. I cannot thank every single one of you enough,” Ryan said.

“We’re still waiting for some data to come in … but it seems pretty clear that despite the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, this band of brothers has overcome the Brethren,” she said – a dark-humoured reference to reports of Exclusive Brethren volunteers campaigning for the Liberal Party in marginal seats including Kooyong.

“As I did in 2022, can I say that I can’t believe the power of this community. I can’t believe what we’ve achieved together.”

Reflecting on her first term as an independent MP, Ryan acknowledged the challenges: building a team and electorate office from scratch, operating constantly in the public eye, and being held to a high standard.

“Everyone makes mistakes in life, and I and my team have done that at times,” she said. “But what we’ve discovered is that with generosity and faith – and with the help of people from the community – you can get past those things.

“And we’ve been able to, in three years, put together a body of work which has shown the community of Kooyong that it’s worth having independent representation.”

She then turned to the people behind her campaign – a long handwritten list of volunteers’ names she rattled off with affection.

Ryan also acknowledged her political opponents, thanking Liberal candidate Amelia Hamer, Labor’s Clive Crosby and Greens candidate Jackie Crosby.

“It’s not easy to be a political candidate … They’re all good people, quite young people — and I feel maternal, which they probably wouldn’t appreciate – but that’s OK,” she laughed.

She also described the more toxic mood of this campaign compared with her breakout win in 2022.

“This has been tough,” she said. “2022 was joyous and fun. This has been really hard … There are lots of reasons for that.

“I think as a country, we’re a different country from where we were three years ago. We have some challenges. We have some bridges to rebuild and some things to mend. But I think we can do that.

“We’ve lost some of the joy that we had. We’ve lost some of the cohesion we’ve always enjoyed as a country – one of the wonderful things about living here. But with your help, as part of the 48th parliament, I believe we can bring it back.”

She ended the speech with, “Let’s have a party” and Tina Turner’s song blasted out again.