The Nationals leader released a statement just after 1pm saying he was “delighted” that his party had won both Murray and Cootamundra.

“Our two candidates in Steph Cooke and Austin Evans deserve this,” he said.

“They have worked extremely hard engaging with communities, listening to locals and dealing with the tough issues, and I know they will continue to do so.”

The Nationals held the seats despite suffering massive swings against them as many voters switched allegiances to the Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party and Country labor.

“These by-elections were a big test for us as a party and for me as a new leader,” Mr Barilaro said.

“The nature of a by-election, together with some of the issues of the past meant we were always expecting a large swing against us,” he said.

“But I think voters recognised that we have worked hard to fix the mistakes of the past, and that we are a good government that is in the midst of seriously improving the lives of people in regional and rural NSW.

“They know the $1.3 billion Regional Growth Fund I negotiated with the Premier Gladys Berejiklian is ready to roll out, and that our government is the only government that can deliver that level of funding and all of the projects and benefits that come with it.”

UPDATE 11.30am Sunday: The Nationals are quietly confident but yet to claim victory in the seat of Murray.

As it stands, Nationals candidate Austin Evans holds a slight lead over Shooters hopeful Helen Dalton.

Counting continues.

UPDATE 10.30pm: The Nationals look likely to have held the seats of both Cootamundra and Murray – albeit on significantly reduced margins.

The Nationals candidate for Murray, Austin Evans, appears to have scraped past Shooters hopeful Helen Dalton, while Steph Cooke was quite comprehensive in her victory in Cootamundra.

UPDATE 9.30pm: Riverina MP Michael McCormack has tweeted his congratulations to Steph Cooke, who has easily won the seat of Cootamundra.

UPDATE 9.15pm: ABC election expert Antony Green is reporting a huge swing of almost 20 per cent against the Nationals in the seat of Murray.

However, Mr Green is still predicting the Nats will hold the seat.

UPDATE 9pm: Steph Cooke looks set to succeed Katrina Hodgkinson in the seat of Cootamunda, despite a swing of about 10 per cent again against the Nationals with 64 per cent of the vote counted.

UPDATE 8.10pm: Nationals candidate Steph Cooke holds a commanding lead in the two-party preferred vote over her Country Labor’s Charlie Sheahan rival.

A short time ago the official count has Ms Cooke on 62.4 per cent of the vote, with Mr Sheahan on 37.5 per cent.

UPDATE 8pm: In the seat of Murray, Nationals hopeful Austin Evans holds 53.4 per cent of the two-party preferred vote, with Shooters candidate Helen Dalton on 46.5 per cent, as counting continues.

UPDATE 7.30pm: Nationals candidate for Cootamundra Austin Evans is sitting on 41 per cent of first preference votes as counting continues in the seat of Murray.

Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party hopeful Helen Dalton has 31 per cent and Country Labor candidate Michael Kidd is on 21 per cent.

Counting continues.

UPDATE 7.15pm: Steph Cooke, the National Party’s hopeful in the seat of Cootamundra, holds a commanding lead early in the count.

Ms Cooke has received 47.5 per cent of first preference votes, with Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party candidate on 23.6 per cent and Country Labor representative Charlie Sheehan on 22.1 per cent.

Counting continues.

EARLIER: The polls have closed and counting is underway in the Murray and Cootamundra by-elections.

In the seat of Murray, Nationals candidate Austin Evans and Shooters, Fishers and Farmers hopeful Helen Dalton are expected to fight out a close contest.

Cootamundra is also set to be a battle between the two parties, with Steph Cooke standing for the Nationals and Matthew Stadtmiller for the Shooters, Fishers and Farmers party.

Despite having a stranglehold on both seats for many years through Adrian Piccoli in Murray and Katrina Hodgkinson in Cootamundra, the Nationals have poured significant resources into retaining the seats.

On Saturday, NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian flew into Griffith to do some last-minute campaigning on behalf of Mr Evans.

It comes as former Prime Minister John Howard and Deputy Prime Minister Tim Fischer slammed the Shooters’ policy on guns as “dangerous”.