Democratic Alliance leader Helen Zille received a hero's welcome at Cape Town airport on Friday afternoon on her way back from the IEC results centre in Pretoria.

A large crowd of DA supporters packed the domestic arrivals hall singing, cheering and waving party flags ahead of her arrival.

They held aloft posters proclaiming: "Helen we love you", "welcome premier", and "delivery happens in the Western Cape, join Helen", among others.

As she left the terminal building, Zille was mobbed by a sea of blue-shirted supporters, and a large media contingent jostling for position.

In the chaos, her minders had great difficulty getting her safely to her vehicle through the thronging crowd.

Speaking from the car just before it drove off and battling to make herself heard above the noise, Zille thanked her supporters and vowed to work hard over the next five years.