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After garnering more votes in the ACT election than any other candidate, the 42-year-old Ms Gallagher kept her cards close to her chest when questioned about her discussion with Greens leader Meredith Hunter last night.

''I've rung Meredith [Hunter] just to see how they were going,'' Ms Gallagher said at 10.30pm.

While the government teeters on who the Greens will support, Ms Gallagher said negotiations between Labor and the party had not yet started.

She will base her pitch to the Greens on her belief that Labor and the Greens have more policies in common, and she has called for the Greens to stay true to themselves.

''If we are to govern, we are to govern with the support of the Greens,'' she said.

She noted there were still key seats to be counted in Brindabella and Molonglo.

''Politics is a tough business,'' she said

''We have held on to all of our seats, we have increased our votes, we are the party with the most votes.

''We have seen a swing to an incumbent Labor government.''

In speaking to Labor members she said she'd never been involved in such a disciplined, positive Labor campaign, as she was watched by her partner Dave Skinner and three children Abigail, Charlie and Evie.

She labelled the Liberals' campaign, which focused on tripling of rates, as ''deceitful, negative''.

''The Labor Party I lead will never camp on a lie or a scare campaign,'' Ms Gallagher said.

''We don't go on the TV and talk [Canberra] down.

''We talk it up.''

If she is returned as chief minister it will be an obvious high point in her 11-year political career, none of which has been spent outside of government.

She was elected as ACT Labor leader by her party and as chief minister by the Legislative Assembly in May 2011, after friend and mentor Jon Stanhope resigned.

Ms Gallagher was first elected to the Assembly as a Labor member for Molonglo and joined the Stanhope ministry in 2002.

Since then she has worked her way through most ministries.

Going into the latest poll she still held the portfolios of health - this election's biggest battleground and an area undergoing a $1 billion makeover - and was also minister for territory and municipal services.

She did, however, hand over the responsibility for Treasury to her second-in-command Andrew Barr.

As Treasurer she had funded major capital works programs, during the global financial crisis.

Before 2001, she worked for five years for the Community and Public Sector Union as an industrial organiser for Commonwealth public servants.

Her career began in the community sector working for People First ACT, an organisation providing advocacy and support to individuals with an intellectual disability.

She was also a project worker for Woden Community Service, working with children with disabilities.

The place of Labor minister Simon Corbell was in doubt last night, as his Labor colleague Meegan Fitzharris led him in the seat of Molonglo by 600 votes.

''It will come down to the distribution of Katy Gallagher's preferences, which could be quite a while,'' he said.