As of Tuesday, the Australian Electoral Commission shows Marion Scrymgour with a 1.49 per cent buffer over Mr Ryan.

Lingiari is traditionally a safe Labor seat and has been held by long-standing MP Warren Snowdon since the seat's creation in 2001 until his retirement at this year's election.

Labor's margin in Lingiari is significantly down from the previous federal election in 2019, where Warren Snowdon won with a 5.5 per cent margin.

ABC election analyst Antony Green believes Ms Scrygmour's lead of just more than 1,000 votes is enough to secure the seat for Labor.

Ms Scrymgrour claimed the win herself on Friday, taking to social media to declare victory.

"After today's counting of votes and with an understanding of what votes are outstanding, I am confident now that I have been elected as the new Member for Lingiari!!" she said in a Facebook post.

"I would like to thank the electors of Lingiari for their support. I look forward to being their voice in Canberra in an Albanese Labor Government.

"I would also like to acknowledge and thank all of the other candidates who put themselves forward to contest the election.

"Finally, I'd like to thank the Northern Territory Labor Branch, the mighty trade union movement, my volunteers, family and supporters for all of their help over the last 18 months."

Before entering federal politics, Ms Scrygmour was a member of the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly from 2001 to 2012, representing the seat of Arafura. From 2007 to 2009, she was the Deputy Chief Minister of the Northern Territory and the highest-ranked Indigenous Australian female in government in Australia's history.

Ms Scrygmour retired from politics in 2012 and worked for several different organizations until her preselection for the 2022 federal election.

Most recently, Ms Scrygmour was the chief executive of the Northern Land Council and the first female CEO of any land council in the Northern Territory.

Mr Ryan, who was the Mayor of Alice Springs for 13 years before running in this year's election, was the more popular candidate in Katherine, taking out an average of 58 per cent of the vote on a two candidate preferred basis across the town's three voting booths.

As of Tuesday morning, he was yet to publicly concede.