Daniel Andrews the man of the hour as even true believers are left stunned

The pop music was blasting from a teenager’s birthday party in the room next door to Victorian premier Daniel Andrew’s election night reception.

But Labor supporters celebrating the government’s landslide victory over the Coalition had the the moves over the awkward bopping teenagers at Village Green Hotel in Andrews’ Mulgrave electorate in Melbourne’s east.

Polish migrant Mary Garvin, 79, linked arms and swung around in circles with her new friend Macedonian-born Stajanka Nikolov, 61, as Labor’s seat count continued to climb.

After the ABC’s election guru Antony Green declared a Labor majority, the pair grabbed a bunch of red helium balloons off a table and shook them about.

They even jumped on stage and started a can-can dance line. Then Garvin, a grandmother-of-three who plays tennis six times a week and does line dancing, went for a waltz with a young woman in a sparkly silver dress.

Play Video 0:58 Victorian State Election 2018: labor supporters celebrate as Daniel Andrews wins - video

Labor's election win in Victoria delivers a stunning margin and a new party hero | Gay Alcorn Read more

The mood was jubilant, the drinks flowed, and a diverse crowd waited in anticipation of the premier.

As the opposition leader, Matthew Guy, conceded defeat, the crowd booed and heckled.

When Andrews finally arrived with his wife, Catherine, and children Joseph, Grace and Noah, they were mobbed by wellwishers, hugs and kisses.

At the podium Andrews punched the air and declared Victorians had “overwhelmingly endorsed a positive and optimistic plan for our state”.

“We are the most progressive government in the nation,” Andrews said. “We are the most progressive state in the nation.”

In a swipe at his opponent’s tactics, Andrews said Victorians “have in record numbers ... rejected the low road of fear and division”.

“And for that, I am very, very proud.”

The premier thanked his wife, children, mother and sister for all their love and support.

His voice wavered a little as he spoke of his late father, Bob, who had succumbed to a rare cancer in April 2016 at the age of 65.

“There is one person who is not here tonight, and the seeds of this victory are in something he said to me many times when I was a much younger person,” Andrews said. “He said to me often … ‘say what you do and do what you say’.”

Labor's election win in Victoria delivers a stunning margin and a new party hero | Gay Alcorn Read more

Victoria’s first family posed for photos with their backs to the crowd of supporters in a sea of red.

Photographers jostled to get the shot and for a brief moment it looked like they would topple over the red Labor banner on the stage.

A gleeful Garvin managed to shake the premier’s hand before he was ushered away.

“I told him ‘congratulations darling’,” she said.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Daniel Andrews poses for a photo with his family. Photograph: Daniel Pockett/AAP

The flurry of excitement was too much for some people though.

“I have to sit down for a rest, I’ve been on my feet all day,” Labor supporter Leonard Makore said following his seven-hour stint at a Mulgrave polling station handing out how to vote cards in the wind.

The crowd quickly thinned and small children wearing long Labor red T-shirts like dresses scrambled to claim balloons.

Next door, the 16-year-olds kicked on under laser disco lights, ready to party well into the night.