“[Liberal] head office are pretty useless at this sort of stuff. I’m surprised that they stuffed it up so badly,but I’m not surprised because they are so useless.”

Bennison,who is unsure if he will contest the mayorship if re-elected to council,feared the absence of Liberals could create instability on council.

“We need stability in Lane Cove Council because if not,there’s a real possibility we will have an administrator in place.”

The Blue Mountains and Wollongong votes have been narrowed to a Greens versus Labor contest,with independents serving as a third option.

In Camden,Canterbury-Bankstown,Central Coast,Georges River,Hornsby,Maitland,Newcastle,North Sydney and Penrith,some but not all Liberal candidates were left off the ballot.

The Liberals currently hold six seats on Penrith Council,but could be left with just two if voting remains unchanged from the 2021 election.

In the council’s East Ward the Liberals failed to nominate a single candidate,meaning Labor’s five candidates will be voted in unopposed despite currently holding only two seats. Liberal candidates will also be absent in Penrith’s South Ward,where they previously held two seats.

North Sydney will be largely unaffected,however the Liberals’ plans to make inroads into the St Leonards ward have been dashed after the party’s five candidates were not nominated.

While the fallout will not be fully understood until after the election,the fiasco has damaged the NSW Liberal Party brand.

Outrage from party members,councillors and high-ranking political figures led to an emergency meeting of the NSW Liberal executive on Thursday night which unanimously voted to sack state director Richard Shields.

Relaying a conversation with Shields,a senior Liberal source said the state director told him he “misinterpreted the amount of work involved” in the nomination process,after the task was transferred from individual councils in 2021 to the party executive.

Shields,who also serves as Woollahra mayor,has denied responsibility and pointed the finger at NSW Liberal Party president Don Harwin,saying he had “volunteered to run the local government nomination process”.

WithAlexandra Smith,Max Maddison,Megan Gorrey andAnthony Segaert

Start the day with a summary of the day’s most important and interesting stories,analysis and insights.Sign up for our Morning Edition newsletter.