With 54.4 per cent of the vote counted, Sam Uffindell has announced that Labour's Jan Tinetti has phoned him to concede the seat for Tauranga.

"I had a phone call from Jan," says Sam, making the announcement to National Party supporters gathered at 1 The Strand on Saturday night.

He went on to thank his volunteer team, friends and family for their help and support during his election campaign, in particular mentioning his campaign manager and all those who helped to "paint the town blue".

"I'm lucky here, we've got a fantastic bunch of members and volunteers. They make life really easy. They get up there and hand things out, they put up hoardings and fix them up. And I found that there's a fair bit of support out there as well," says Sam. "That was really nice to see."

SunLive asked Sam what are his three big things he wants to get done for Tauranga.

"Infrastructure is the first one. We have a big shortage of infrastructure. We've got State Highway 29 over the line recently. I'm going to keep working hard internally to make sure we get more focus on infrastructure development here in Tauranga.

"The second one would be around plan change 33. I know that there is a lot of community opposition to that. A lot of people don't want the changes that are being proposed and don't feel that they are being listened to. So I'm going to make sure I represent the people on that.

"The third one would be to make sure that we can make a transition to local democracy here in Tauranga as soon as possible. We'll be making sure we restore local democracy as soon as possible, some time next year."

He says the cost of living is the number one issue he's been hearing about from people across Tauranga.

"Law and order's another big issue. But I think in Tauranga the congestion was brought up consistently as a big challenge. We're a growing city, people keep wanting to move here because it's so good but we have to make sure we've got the investment in infrastructure that we need to enable us to develop."

With 25,377 votes counted in the Tauranga electorate, Sam has a current margin of 6,919 votes. He is leading with 12,597 votes. Labour Party candidate and List MP Jan Tinetti currently has 5,678 votes.

The National Party is leading in the Tauranga electorate with 49.32 per cent of the party vote. The Labour Party has 17.48 per cent.

ACT New Zealand candidate Christine Young is currently in third place with 2271 votes.

Earlier, 8.50pm update:  National Party candidate and current Tauranga MP Sam Uffindell has a strong lead with the race for Tauranga.

With only 47.1 per cent of the votes counted, Sam is leading with 11,790 votes and Labour candidate Jan Tinetti has 5,218 votes, a current margin of 6,572.

Tauranga MP Sam Uffindell with his wife Julia, daughter Lily and brother Harry. Sam has a strong lead over second-placed candidate Labour's Jan Tinetti. Photo: Rosalie Liddle Crawford/SunLive.

National is also in the lead with party votes, securing 49.79 per cent of the votes, with Labour on 17.52 per cent.

NZ First candidate Erika Harvey is in fourth place with 1786 votes, behind ACT New Zealand candidate Christine Young who currently has 2054 votes.

NZ First candidate Erika Harvey at Trinity Wharf Hotel on Saturday night. Photo: Merle Cave/SunLive.

"This election is so different," says Erika. "The support has been amazing. We've had incredible volunteers, and I'm really excited and looking forward to the results.

She things NZ First is tracking well so far with election results.

"I think we're doing really really well."

Tauranga votes counted: 23,351 or 47.1 per cent:

Tauranga National Party supporters at 1 The Strand on election night. Photo: Rosalie Liddle Crawford/SunLive.

7.30pm update: National Party candidate and current Tauranga MP Sam Uffindell has shot into an early lead with the race for Tauranga.

With only 38.2 per cent of the votes counted, Sam is leading with 11,659 votes and Labour candidate Jan Tinetti has 5.146 votes, a current margin of 6.513.

National is also in the lead with party votes, securing 49.85 per cent of the votes, with Labour on 17.54 per cent.

"We're really early days at the moment and of course this is the early vote coming in which never favours us anyway," says Jan.

"So, it is up quite a lot to the right at the moment, but we'll wait and see when the majority of the votes come in, when the booths start to come through later on in the night."

Tauranga Labour candidate and current list MP Jan Tinetti waiting on election night results with her supporters at Whareroa Marae. Photo: Merle Cave/SunLive.

"But I will say that it's been a really tough campaign. I feel exhausted and I feel like I've not left anything there, I've given it my all and that's as much as I could ask.

"I'm really proud of my team that are here tonight and the work that they've done in this campaign, cos it has not been easy.

"We've had a bit of abuse along the way, it hasn't always been a nice campaign. But it is what it is at this point in time."

Tauranga votes counted: 23,059 or 38.2 per cent:

Earlier 7.20pm: With 25 per cent of the Tauranga votes counted, National MP and candidate Sam Uffindell is in the lead with 7,011 votes. Second candidate with a 3,621 margin is Labour’s candidate and List MP Jan Tinetti with 3,390 votes.

National is in the lead with 48 per cent of the party vote, with Labour sitting on 18.6 per cent.

There are another eight candidates running for the Tauranga electorate.

Erika Harvey and Kirsten Murfitt at Trinity Wharf Hotel on election night. Photo: Merle Cave/SunLive.

Erika Harvey who is 10th on the NZ First Party list currently has 1262 votes. Christine Young, who is 18th on the ACT part list has 1269 votes.

Larry Baldock, who entered the race barely six weeks ago, is running as an Independent candidate and has 337 votes so far.  He has previously served one term at Parliament with the United Future Party from 2002 - 2005, and says it was an exciting and influential one, as he found himself at the forefront of policy.

Mikaere Taingahue Sydney - Te Pāti Māori, Jono Langridge – New Conservatives, Leon Samuels – Vision New Zealand, Chelsea Stokman – Animal Justice Party,  and Justin Crooks – Green Party, round out the rest of the candidates standing for Tauranga this election.