Standing in a drying paddock before Christmas, National Party Leader David Littleproud declared the seat of Calare key to a coalition election victory.
But in a symbolic defeat, the Nationals have been unable to claw back the rural NSW electorate from a party defector.
Andrew Gee, an independent who quit the Nationals in late 2022 over the party's opposition to an Indigenous voice to parliament, retained Calare, claiming victory over Sam Farraway.
The Nationals otherwise stayed the course in Saturday's federal election despite the Liberal Party's disastrous result.
Mr Gee held 56 per cent of the vote on a two-candidate preferred basis on Monday morning, as Mr Farraway conceded defeat.
"It was a real David and Goliath battle in many ways," Mr Gee told AAP on Monday.
"We were heavily outspent ... and we were heavily outgunned in terms of advertising and personnel on the ground.
"We ran a very grassroots campaign ... it was the community connection which really helped me to get through right across the region."
Mr Gee was particularly popular among voters in villages that were ravaged by floods in late 2022, having established an inquiry into the insurance industry and actively helped in recovery efforts.
Some voters said they felt sidelined by the National Party, Mr Gee said.
But across Australia, country communities largely remained loyal to the Nationals.
The party managed to hold onto electorates that were in some doubt, including Cowper in northern NSW, and made inroads in Bendigo, Victoria, which is so far retained by Labor on a knife-edge.
Rural voters cast their ballots influenced by local issues and traditional loyalties, Charles Sturt University political scientist Dominic O'Sullivan said.
"In voters' minds the Nationals have something of a monopoly on that parochialism," Professor O'Sullivan told AAP.
But country Australians have no reason to fear a Labor government, Prof O'Sullivan said.
Labor did a better job than the coalition of recognising the importance of free trade, migrant workers and rural healthcare during the election campaign, he said.
"There's probably more chance of being able to see a doctor or a nurse in the regions than there might have been under the policies that the coalition was proposing."
The National Farmers' Federation has implored the government to fix country roads, improve access to childcare and focus on severe drought conditions in parts of Victoria and South Australia.
"Drought dries up more than land - it drains local economies, family budgets and wellbeing," president David Jochinke said.
"It's not just farmers who feel it, it's entire rural and regional communities."
