AN EAGER, long line of Noosa Council voters were greeted cheekily at 8am poll opening by the sight of outgoing Mayor Noel Playford wearing a "I voted for Tony" T-shirt at Tewantin State School.

Councillor Playford's barely hidden support for his council colleague and mayoral contender Tony Wellington was out in the open for all to see as the line-up of early voters stretched from the school hall out to the street as the electorally committed ran the gauntlet of how-to-vote card carriers.

If Cr Playford's partisan apparel was off-putting to Cr Wellington's council rival for the top job, Cr Sandy Bolton, any angst was hidden by a beaming smile of one of Noosa's most personable pollies.

Cr Bolton posed with veteran campaigner Cr Frank Pardon, putting himself up for "sale again like an old piece of furniture" and Mayor Playford, while Cr Wellington went off to cast his vote.

He was a little taken back to be told by a booth worker to "just put one" for the mayor's ballot, without being advised of his preference options for the mayoral vote.

A few other voters said they were told the same, but Noosa returning officer Colin Brown said there was no directive issued for just vote one advice.

"My standard line is you can just vote one or you can preference the lot," he said.

As for any dirty tricks at the ballot in Noosa, Mr Brown said there was "nothing to write home about".

As mayoral candidate Ray Kelly cheerily greeted his potential electors, a few voters in the crowded line-up shared their opinions.

"You look after the people who look after you," said one man who nodded his approval at Cr Bolton and Cr Pardon.

Another male voter exiting the poll showed Cr Wellington has a slight identity crisis with the local state Speaker.

"I think that Peter Wellington will get up, but Ray will do pretty well - he's got lots of experience," he said.

Down at Peregian, former councillor Brian Stockwell sported a badge "Not related to any developer" - a wry reference to his failed last bid to get elected when people confused him with former Noosa Civic developer Mark Stockwell.

Over at the Noosaville Christian Outreach poll, Greens candidate Aaron White was in a lather of sweat, most likely from the early morning swelter, rather than his view that the two female councillor candidates, Elaine Williams and Ingrid Jackson, had been running hot with the pre-polling women all week.

More than 11,000 of about 38,000 Noosa voters had cast their vote before election day, with 3185 postals also to come in. They missed out on a chance to enjoy a non-partisan snag cooked up by senior Noosa admin man Martin Drydale, as part of the local Rotary fundraiser at Tewantin.

- PETER GARDINER