Results announced about 2pm today showed Mr Shadbolt's victory was a landslide, with 16,275 votes. He was well ahead of his nearest rivals Suzanne Prentice with 5311 votes and Carl Heenan with 669 votes.
With the slogan "Time for a change'', Ms Prentice was tipped to give Mr Shadbolt a run for his money in the election. However, her inexperience in politics showed and voters chose to stick with the incumbent mayor.
Mr Shadbolt said he was relieved with the result and thanked the people of Invercargill for their support. However, he was also saddened to see many sitting councillors not re-elected.
Councillors Wayne Harpur, Peter Kett and Lindsay Thomas were cast aside and replaced by new councillors Carolyn Dean, Lloyd Esler, Ian Pottinger and Graeme Lewis.
Re-elected councillors were Darren Ludlow, Jackie Kruger, Alan Dennis, Norman Elder, Graham Sycamore, Neil Boniface, Thelma Buck and Lindsay Abbott.