Labor may have feared a major beating in Sydney's west but against the odds they received more of a spanking David Bradbury arrives for voting with his family at Claremont Public School today. IT was not so much a beating, more of a spanking. Labor MPs in Sydney's western heartland woke yesterday fearing voters wielding baseball bats after six years of chaotic government. But by late last night, it appeared the West had meted out a lesser punishment, stripping Labor of three seats but granting reprieves in four others thought to be in grave danger. Rookie NSW general secretary Jamie Clements was quick to talk up the surprise results, admitting the party had "bettered our expectations." "It's fashionable to talk down the NSW office of the Labor Party but again our great campaigning has seen us defy the national trend and expectations to hold on to seats we thought we could lose," said Mr Clements, who was overseeing his first federal campaign. But swings of around 3 per cent saw the once safe seat of Banks and the Penrith-based seat of Lindsay swept away, while Reid, which takes in the area around Sydney Olympic Park, was almost certain to fall. Victoria Ardita (18) first time voter who has voted for the Liberal party at William Stimson Primary School in Wetherill Park in the seat of McMahon. The turnaround was dramatic in Parramatta, where Labor MP Julie Owens had essentially conceded the seat before lunch, saying how she was looking forward to kickstarting her strategic management business and ``playing piano. Hours later, she was on the verge of celebrating an unlikely win against the Liberals' Martin Zaiter. "I love my electorate, almost to the point that I'd say we've won," she said. In the marginal seat of Greenway, held by only 0.9 per cent, Labor's Michelle Rowlands was poised to score an against-the-odds victory overs the Liberals' hapless Jaymes Diaz, actually gaining a swing of almost 3 per cent. "This proves that candidates do actually matter," one analyst said. Ms Rowland admitted she was "really pleased," saying "if we come out with the win after tonight I think it will be a credit to the campaign that's been run." The bloodbath feared in the prize Labor seats of Werriwa and McMahon, held by Laurie Ferguson and outgoing treasurer Chris Bowen respectively, was avoided after a clever rearguard action. Corynne Novakovic from North Parramatta pictured at Parramatta Town Hall preparing to cast her vote. With internal party polling showing the seats were facing a high informal vote due to a large number of ethnic voters, Labor marshalled armies of Vietnamese and Arabic speakers to doorknock voters to explain the party's how-to-vote cards. "The party threw buckets of money at both those seats to get the informal vote down, and it paid off," a senior Labor source said. Mr Bowen, who will be a key player in Opposition, held off the Liberals' former police officer Ray King in McMahon, after a fierce dirty tricks campaign. But in Banks, where Hurstville's Chinese community was expected to swing behind Kevin Rudd, Labor veteran Daryl Melham lost the seat he had held for 23 years to the Liberals' David Coleman, who took leave from his media job at Nine Entertainment Co to doorknock tirelessly. In Reid, which takes in the suburbs of Five Dock and Drummoyne, Labor's John Murphy, one of the first MPs to call for Mr Rudd's return to the leadership, looked likely to lose to the Liberals' Craig Laundy. As expected, in the Penrith-based seat of Lindsay, Labor's David Bradbury was swept away to Tony Abbott's "sex-appeal" candidate, Fiona Scott, who recorded a 3 per cent swing. How the west was won.