The SNP hold the balance of power on North Ayrshire Council after the ruling Labour group slumped to third today.
The Conservative group produced an incredible 10 seats — three more than their shock 2017 local election where they returned seven councillors.
The Nationalists amassed 12 seats — up one from 2017.
But Labour produced the most disappointing result of the day with their 11 seats reduced to just nine.
While just two independent councillors make up the 33 bodies on the local authority — down from four in 2017.
The SNP's group leader Marie Burns said moments after every ward was declared: "I'm so pleased and so grateful to the people of North Ayrshire for putting their trust in us.
"We managed to produce 12 councillors — one more than 2017 and we couldn't have asked for any more than that."
But councillor Burns remained coy on taking charge of the local authority as a minority administration.
She added: "We've only just just found out the result and we've all been working really hard for weeks so we need to take a break over the weekend and we'll get together as a new group and re-elect our leader — we're a democratic group — and then we'll have a discussion about where we go from here."
The last council election produced a deadlock between SNP and Labour with both parties achieving 11 councillors.
Labour rejected coalition talks with the Nationalists in 2017 in favour of running a minority administration.
While the power remains with the SNP this time out, Ms Burns won't rule out extending the olive branch to Labour once again.
"They [Labour] knocked us back twice. At this stage I'm not ruling anything out — apart from working with the Tories. We all need to take a deep breath over the next few days and take in the result."
One the prospect of becoming the leader of North Ayrshire Council leader, Ms Burns said: "It would be an absolute honour. It hasn't really sunk in yet that that could be a possibility. There's no decisions being made over the next few days but to be the leader of North Ayrshire Council would be an absolute privilege."
Don't miss the latest Ayrshire headlines – sign up to our free daily newsletter here
