Labor's interim ministry will be sworn in by Governor Margaret Beazley today, ending the caretaker period, as key independents guarantee "confidence and supply" in the event of a minority government.
Labor had 45 seats confirmed when counting ended yesterday, but a question mark remains over how many they will secure in total, with 47 needed to govern outright.
Chris Minns has had little time to rest after election night, with media interviews and appearances, including at Westmead Hospital in the early hours of Tuesday morning.
At 12.30am, Mr Minns shared to social media that he was visiting health workers who "got us through the toughest times".
Independent member for Sydney Alex Greenwich tweeted on Monday evening that he had been involved in conversations with the incoming government — along with the Member for Wagga Wagga Dr Joe McGirr and Greg Piper, the Member for Lake Macquarie — with the trio agreeing to "offer confidence and supply".
"In respect of the decisive result of the election, and in the interest of stable government, the members for Sydney, Lake Macquarie, and Wagga Wagga have agreed to provide confidence and supply to the incoming government," a statement issued by the trio said.
"We look forward to a strong and consultative working relationship with the new premier and his team."
Mr Greenwich told the ABC it was going to be a "really close parliament", but the trio respected the new government's mandate.
"It was a decisive result and a change of mood in the electorate that the people wanted to see a Minns Labor government elected," he said.
"It's important that the next government is able to run knowing that they can pass budgets and have confidence of the parliament, and so the three independents have ensured that that will happen."
Cashless gaming was a key election policy for Mr Greenwich. He was vocal in raising his concerns with Labor's take on the issue and vowed to introduce a private members' bill to "push the reform through".
He rejects the suggestion that a deal was done in return for their backing.
"The Minns government knows that cashless gaming and LGBTQI equality are important to us, but this is not a matter of doing deals.
"This is a matter of providing stability to an incoming government who clearly has a mandate to govern for New South Wales."
Incoming Treasurer Daniel Mookhey said the swearing-in would allow the senior leadership team to begin the decision-making process.
"This is important to allow the new government to get access to public service departments and commence the formal briefing process," he said.
Labor's priorities were to receive departmental briefings on flood recovery in northern NSW, the Menindee fish kill, and the problems that emerged across the rail network on election night.
Mr Mookhey noted that the outgoing government had been "gracious" in the transition period, assisting Labor over the past 24 hours.
The Sydney seat of Willoughby has been called for the Liberal party's Tim James, who faced a strong challenge by Independent Larissa Penn.
The ABC has Mr James leading by more than 1,000 votes, retaining the seat he won in a by-election following Gladys Berejiklian's resignation.
Ms Berejiklian, the former premier, held the seat from 2003 to 2021.
The Liberal party has held Willoughby at every election since 1950, bar one in 1978 before it swung back to the Liberal Party in 1981.
Mr James, from the party's right faction, was not Ms Berejiklian's preferred successor as candidate.
Labor pulled ahead in the south coast seat of Kiama and at Ryde in Sydney's north-west, but counting is on a knife-edge.
Labor's Katelin McInerney is in front of independent candidate Gareth Ward by about 700 votes in Kiama, and earlier today, the ABC projected this as a likely win for Labor.
Mr Ward held the seat on a very safe margin of 12 per cent for the Liberal party before re-contesting the seat as an independent.
Mr Ward is expected to enter pleas of not guilty over historic sexual assault offences when he is formally arraigned in Nowra Local Court on Tuesday. He denies the charges.
Independent Judy Hannan is set to win the Southern Highlands electorate of Wollondilly, defeating Liberal MP Nathaniel Smith.
ABC chief election analyst Antony Green said counting of pre-poll votes taken at the Wollondilly Electoral Manager's office boosted Ms Hannan to 53.3 per cent in the two-candidate preferred race, with 61 per cent of the vote counted.
The Bowral Early Voting Centre has yet to report, and independents traditionally poll poorly with absent votes, but Ms Hannan's lead appears large enough to win Wollondilly.
Ms Hannan was a Liberal candidate for Auburn and Granville in the early 2000s, but after contesting Wollondilly as an independent in 2011, was barred from re-joining the Liberal party.
Ms Hannan finished second contesting Wollondilly in 2019 and has the backing of Climate 200 in her 2023 campaign.
Five teal candidates were contesting the NSW election, and so far, Ms Hannan is the only one to win a seat.
The Greens appear set to hold all three of their lower house seats, with Balmain candidate Kobi Shetti ahead by about 800 votes.
The ABC's election computer predicts a "likely" Greens win in Balmain, and the party has already retained Ballina and Newtown.
Greens MP Jamie Parker had represented the seat since 2011 and had held it on a comfortable margin of 10 per cent, but his retirement made the contest much closer.
