Victoria LeggettThe north Norfolk election campaign has been a low key affair compared with previous years.The past three elections have been exciting nail-biters as the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats battled to overtake their rival or hold on to a marginal seat meaning there were high profile campaigns with party leaders popping up all over the place.Victoria Leggett

The north Norfolk election campaign has been a low key affair compared with previous years.

The past three elections have been exciting nail-biters as the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats battled to overtake their rival or hold on to a marginal seat meaning there were high profile campaigns with party leaders popping up all over the place.

This year, that national - or even county-wide - support has been noticeably absent, adding to the feeling that, with a notional majority of 8,575 (taking into account boundary changes), Norman Lamb's victory is inevitable. Not that anyone would admit it.

The Lib Dem candidate has even sometimes been pulled away from his constituency duties to help out in other seats which the party considers more in need of help.

Labour's Phil Harris, who had to travel to Great Yarmouth to meet Gordon Brown during his recent visit to the county, admitted north Norfolk was not a prime battleground for his party.

He said: 'You've got to get your priorities right. You can't get everywhere.'

Yet despite all that, all six candidates and their local teams have continued to work flat-out right up to polling day to give it their best shot.

Door knocking continued across the constituency while leaflets and personalised letters came through letter boxes, hoping to win over those last remaining floating voters.

One positive development at the end of the campaign is that candidates have reported a lifting of the apathy detected early on with voters belatedly recognising the importance of having their say.

At the polling stations in Cromer the mood was one of people looking for change.

Alison Grainger, 51, said: 'I think people are fed up with the same two people getting in all the time and hearing them bicker between themselves.'

Gwendoline Smith, 72, added: 'The debates on television I think have made more people come out to vote, it has made it a bit like an X-Factor contest, but you should not just vote for someone because of the way they look.'