The Liberal candidate is still locked in a three-way battle with aspirants from the No Land Tax and Animal Justice parties.

The NSW Electoral Commission is expected to declare the final results of the upper house ballot on Friday morning.

Mrs Hughes, who is the Country Liberal Party's vice-president, said it had been a tense 19 days since NSW went to the polls on March 28.

At 10th on the Coalition's ticket and with just 21 positions to be filled, the 40-year-old considered herself only an "outside chance" of election.

"I saw it as an unlikely proposition at the beginning ... but now it is just line-ball," she said.

"The numbers went very well in the early stages, but they have tightened right up again now."

Mrs Hughes is jostling with the No Land Tax's Peter Jones and Animal Justice's Mark Pearson for the final position.

The single issue No Land Tax party had the benefit of drawing first on the enormous Legislative Council ballot paper.

It is also claimed that the party promised people up to $330, plus bonuses, to distribute how-to-vote cards at booths on election day.

ABC election analyst Antony Green on Tuesday had Mrs Hughes trailing the No Land Tax party by just 16 votes - 79,078 to 79,094 - under one possible scenario.

Tamworth-based Nationals MLC Trevor Khan is assured of a second term after filling the Coalition's eighth position on the ticket.

He knows exactly how Mrs Hughes is feeling after suffering through a tortuous two-week count to learn his success in 2007.

"Plainly, the best result would be for Hollie to get there," he said. 

"She's a regionally-based person and has had a strong position over a long period of time in the Liberal Party.

"But we're just going to have to wait until that button is pressed and see where those preferences flow."