Mr Schrinner faced a determined campaign from Mr Condren, who ran on a platform of “stop the rorts”, which claimed the LNP-majority council was wasting ratepayers’ money.

Mr Condren conceded defeat on Sunday afternoon, taking to social media to thank his team and the people of Brisbane.

"Just spoke to Adrian Schrinner and congratulated him on winning the lord mayoralty. Best wishes to him and his family," Mr Condren tweeted

"Hugh (sic) thanks to all the Queensland Labor volunteers who supported my campaign over the past 6 months. The show was nothing without them. I am in awe of their dedication it is extraordinary. Cheers."

In the two state government by-elections held on the same day, it appears Labor and the LNP will retain their respective seats.

Bundamba, one of the safest Labor seats in the state, looks set to be retained despite a challenge from One Nation, while Currumbin appears safe for the LNP.

The Gold Coast, Sunshine Coast, Moreton Bay, Logan and Ipswich councils were all waiting for the results of their polling as well.

Gold Coast incumbent Tom Tate declared victory on Sunday afternoon but his opponent, Mona Hecke, was yet to concede.

In Logan and Ipswich, which both had their councils sacked due to systemic corruption, former councillor Darren Power was heavily in the lead for the Logan mayoralty, while Teresa Harding held a solid lead in Ipswich.

Outside the south-east of the state, Lawrence Springborg, a long-serving former state MP and one of the architects of the merged LNP, will become mayor of Goondiwindi after running unopposed, while popular Townsville Mayor Jenny Hill will retain her position comfortably.

ECQ workers will continue the count on Sunday, with the result expected to become clearer by the start of the week, after problems with the count on Saturday night.

While the physical count was reportedly running smoothly, the ECQ website did not display updates and appeared to experience technical difficulties throughout much of the evening.

It could be weeks before the final makeup of Queensland’s local governments is fully known, after a record number of people either pre-polled or lodged postal votes to avoid voting in booths on election day.

About 1.8 million people had already voted or made arrangements to do so ahead of Saturday.

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Along with pre-polling, about 570,000 people had applied for a postal vote, and 45,000 had registered for telephone voting.

ECQ commissioner Pat Vidgen on Saturday night said the early turnout figure was about 75 per cent, down from 83 per cent at the 2016 elections.

Mr Vidgen said it was an "extraordinary result" given the unique circumstances of the elections and moved to allay the public concerns about voting in the time of a pandemic.

"I want to assure voters who tried to vote, but did not get the opportunity to do so, that you will get a chance to tell us about your circumstances," he said.