Tasmanian Electoral Commissioner Bruce Taylor announced Alderman van Zetten as the winner late last night - with the incumbent mayor claiming victory over rival Alderman Rosemary Armitage by just three votes.

The race for mayor saw a tumultuous series of events yesterday after the initial Tuesday night count - which indicated Alderman Armitage had won the election by 21 votes - was superseded by several recounts.

One recount indicated Alderman van Zetten had won the election by a single vote.

However, Mr Taylor said two further recounts had shown Alderman van Zetten had won the election by three votes.

"We are declaring it with a three-vote win to Albert van Zetten," Mr Taylor said.

"He will be the mayor. There may still be provision for the candidates to appeal to me for a further recount, but I think they will probably accept we have done all we possibly can."

Mr Taylor described the tight mayoral race - which saw the two top contenders almost neck-and-neck throughout the counting process - as almost unprecedented for a municipality of Launceston's size.

Both Alderman Armitage and Alderman van Zetten received more than 9000 primary votes each, but the vote ultimately came down to preferences.

The third contender for the mayoral role, Alderman Ted Sands, received about 3500 primary votes.

After being informed of his win last night, Alderman van Zetten said it had been "an interesting day".

"I'm very pleased and thankful for the opportunity to continue to serve as mayor.

"But at this time I have thoughts for Rosemary because I feel for what she has been through. It has been difficult for both of us and she did very well in the count as well.

"It has been a tense day, but I generally take these things in my stride and try to work through them and that's what I've done."

Alderman Armitage could not be contacted for comment last night.

Alderman van Zetten telephoned Alderman Armitage on Tuesday night to congratulate her "because the vote was so close" but yesterday denied that he had "conceded the election".

Scrutineers, volunteers and staff from the commission were in full force at Launceston's Albert Hall yesterday as the series of recounts took place.

The recounts meant Launceston's 24,000 postal ballot votes were counted multiple times to determine the outcome.

Mr Taylor said there were many reasons that discrepancies could occur in the tallying of votes, but said his focus was on helping his team confirm an accurate result as quickly as possible in each municipality.

"It is a very manual process, there are human factors involved, and it takes a lot of time," Mr Taylor said yesterday.

"What we work on is making sure we have got it right - if that takes time, it will take as long as it takes.

"In the end if it is only a three-vote difference, so be it."

It is understood the resources required to recheck the results of the mayoral race saw results for councillor and alderman positions on some other Northern Tasmanian councils delayed.

Mr Taylor said it could now be as late as tomorrow before some candidates know if they have been elected.