A region of bankable electorates, bursting at the seams with rusted-on faithfuls who would, when asked, return a hat-trick of its members to Macquarie Street without question.

At the 2015 state election, that's precisely how it played out, with the Coalition's junior partners recording emphatic victories in Orange courtesy of now Federal member for Calare Andrew Gee, with a margin of 21.7 per cent, Dubbo (Troy Grant, with a margin of 20.4 per cent) and Bathurst (Paul Toole, with a margin of 15.8 per cent).

The Central West was an undisputed heartland for the party, and looked destined to be so for many years to come.

Let's return to the present day, and it's quite possible that Bathurst will be the last seat standing for the Nationals in the Central West.

Orange was very narrowly lost to the Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party's Phil Donato at a byelection in 2017, and Mr Donato was returned comfortably on Saturday night.

To the north and west, former Deputy Premier Troy Grant's retirement from politics pitched newcomer Dugald Saunders into a contest with Independent Mathew Dickerson in Dubbo. We don't yet know the winner in that contest, but it will be decided by a matter of votes either way, with Mr Grant's previous 20 per cent margin a distant memory.

The Orange byelection loss reflected the community's anger over the Coalition government's forced council amalgamations policy, and its attempts to shut down the state's greyhound racing industry, and those factors have likely had an impact in Dubbo as well.

The only place in the region those issues seemingly haven't registered with voters is in Bathurst, where pundits argue Mr Toole - returned to office for the third time on Saturday - enjoys an obvious personal popularity that clearly resonated with voters more than any residual anti-Nationals sentiment.

Regardless, the changing of the region's once iron-clad political allegiances which started with Mr Donato's stunning byelection win has, judging by the mammoth swing towards Orange's returned member, continued unabated.

How quickly- and drastically - things have changed.