CURRENT Shoalhaven City mayor Greg Watson will head into the September 13 mayoral election with a huge psychological advantage after winning top spot on the ballot paper.

Some other mayoral candidates already concede that Cr Watson is a 'shoe-in' for the job and the top spot can only improve his re-election chances.

Voters will have a choice between 10 different candidates, with sitting councillors making up six of the 10.

Besides Cr Watson, Crs John Finkernagel, Josi Young, current deputy mayor Paul Green, Richard Bates and John Willmott have also put their hands up for the top job.

Cr Willmott - who was unexpected to run for council, let alone for mayor - drew last position on the ballot paper.

Another councillor who was widely tipped to run for mayor, Gareth Ward, last week announced that he would be standing again as a Ward 1 councillor but that he was not interested in the mayor's job.

Patricia Mason had previously announced that she would be running for mayor but withdrew from the race after the Shoalhaven Action Campaign announced that it would only be endorsing one mayoral candidate - John Fergusson.

The other candidates are Paul Crisp, John Fergusson, Kylie Caldwell and Dennis Argall.

Fergusson and Argall have both been particularly vocal in their criticisms of Shoalhaven City Council.

The local region has a fairly strong showing in the mayoral stakes with Crisp (Ulladulla), Finkernagel (Sussex Inlet), Willmott (Mollymook) and Young (Ulladulla) all standing as Ward 1 candidates.