Alliance Party candidates topped the polls across what could be described as their bases, south Belfast, parts of north Down and Lisburn while it appears to be making more inroads into the Antrim districts.
The party added candidates in some areas where strongest, hoping to add to elected members, but it does not appear any significant inroads were made west of the Bann.
And the party was also hit by support for Sinn Fein. Overall, party leader Naomi Long described the day as "a mixed bag".
Candidates were fielded for the first time in some wards in Mid-Ulster and Fermanagh and Tyrone where the party only managed vote numbers in the low hundreds.
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As of early Friday evening, the number of the party's candidates was in the double figures.
The party is particularly happy with an early result in Lurgan. Peter Lavery managed 1,877 first preference votes, an increase of 500 on the previous election. He won on the first count.
Alliance MLA Eoin Tennyson said he was “incredibly proud” of the candidate, describing him as one of the “hardest workers in local politics”.
But the party is eyeing gains across Antrim and Newtownabbey and Mid and East Antrim. One candidate in Antrim was elected after the first count but likely of more significance is its performance in Ballyclare.
Candidate Lewis Boyle, aged just 18, managed to grab close to 1,000 first preference votes in the long-time unionist stronghold. He was elected.
In Mid and East Antrim, the party increased its votes in wards like Ballymena and Carrick Castle around Carrickfergus, where Lauren Gray managed to win more than 1,600 first preference votes, far past the quota and a big increase on 2019.
But what leader Long referred to as the "tsunami" of support for Sinn Fein was most evident in north Belfast, particularly the Castle ward running from Cavehill to Fortwilliam.
Candidate Sam Nelson polled 1,400 votes, a drop of nearly 400 from 2019 when Nuala McAllister and was comfortably elected on the first count. It is not clear whether he will manage to hold the seat.
Across the city, the party was battling last evening to add to the numbers in Belfast City Hall.
In Balmoral, once the seat of popular former Lord Mayor Katie Nicholl, the party is hoping to win two seats, likewise in Lisnasharragh. The party polled well also in North Lisburn.
Ms Long said a "tsunami" of support for Sinn Féin has posed challenges to Alliance's hopes of growth west of the Bann, but she said the party is "in it for the long haul".
"I think what happened in the west particularly is the effect of that Sinn Féin almost tsunami of votes has kind of overridden some of the dynamics that we had in the last election.
"But look - we're in it for the long haul and we're absolutely committed to doing it.
"Generally across Northern Ireland, very strong performances and we look likely to be the only party outside of Sinn Féin that actually make significant gains."
