Queensland Greens leader and South Brisbane candidate Amy MacMahon secured 34.8 per cent of the primary vote but narrowly missed out on winning the seat off Labor deputy Jackie Trad, trailing by just 361 votes in first preference votes. The newly named seat of McConnel, which replaced Brisbane Central and had minor boundary changes, had 27.2 per cent of primary seat votes going to Greens candidate Kirsten Lovejoy. In the new seat of Maiwar, Mr Berkman received 27.6 per cent of the primary vote and was in a tussle with Labor's Ali King (also 27.6 per cent) to claim second spot behind former LNP Newman government minister Scott Emerson (42.2 per cent). Either Mr Berkman or Ms King was expected to claim the seat on the back of preferences from the other.

Across Brisbane, the polling booths that had the most people vote for the Greens were West End and State High in South Brisbane and Paddington in Maiwar with each booth recording a Greens primary vote of more than 40 per cent. Of 68 booths across 11 electorates, one in four voters back the Greens. QUT political science expert Clive Bean said the Greens strength at the Queensland state election was a continuation of a pattern the Greens have shown of being competitive in the inner-city of large metropolitan centres.

“Their strength has been building up in Brisbane in recent years and they’ve never quite built it up enough to actually take a seat, but this time they’re very close and clearly ran very close in South Brisbane,” Professor Bean said. Professor Bean said discussions around Adani mine during the state election campaign may have influenced the number of Greens voters. “There’s a little bit of an irony in the way Greens supports go in the way the most further away from the centre of the issue the stronger the support is,” he said. Looking at the Greens success in South Brisbane, McConnel and Maiwar, Professor Bean said it was likely a combination of policies and the candidate. “The Greens as a movement actually don’t play up personalities and they to some extent play down the notion of leadership and individual stand out leaders and therefore it’s the policies which at the base are pretty clear but tend to drive them and their support,” he said.

“However the research evidence shows all political parties benefit from having someone who is strong in a leadership position or a candidate position ... strong personalities really help and that’s true of the major parties but it’s also particularly true of minor parties. “I think it’s a combination of having selected good strong personalities as candidates and the policies that will have worked together to give the Greens a measure of success in those areas.” Greens candidate for South Brisbane, Amy MacMahon (right), doorknocked in the electorate of South Brisbane. during the election campaign Credit:Alex Ellinghausen Although the Greens have evolved as strong contenders for seats in Parliament, Professor Bean said the fact they did so well this time is no indication of how the party will perform in Queensland in the future. “Each election is a new case to deal with,” he said.