Unlike Scott Morrison on his ScoMobile tour, the opposition leader will stay on the bus as it travels north

First there was the ScoMobile, minus Scott Morrison. Now there is the Bill bus, but with a key difference: Labor has promised its leader will travel on the actual bus as it hits the Queensland campaign trail within days.

State and federal Labor MPs from across the country will be called into action for the road trip, which is understood will get under way in the next week, with Daniel Andrews among the stars expected to get the call up.

Labor’s plan for its caravan of courage was hatched in November, the same month that the prime minister launched his “ScoMo Express”, a blue bus emblazoned with his face, for a tour of Queensland. Morrison quickly had to admit he would be flying to the campaign hot spots where he would be greeted by the empty bus.

Owen Jacques (@Owenjay) So glad I could part of this surreal moment in time. pic.twitter.com/r2Q6YJRN3u

It’s not the first time Labor has trod the same path; Shorten travelled through Queensland in the Bill bus in 2016 and 2017. But this plan, which the party had attempted to keep under wraps until it was ready for the launch, was made with the emphasis Shorten that would actually travel in the vehicle, unlike the Morrison “ghost bus”.

A spokesman for Shorten confirmed the trip but not the route. It is understood it will take the well-worn Bruce highway campaign path, as Labor takes aim at nine of the Coalition’s 21 Queensland seats.

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The Brisbane seats of Bonner, in the eastern suburbs, Dickson in the north, Forde in the south and Brisbane itself, remain within striking distance, as do Capricornia, Leichhardt and Flynn. Petrie and Dawson still sit on the list, although Luke Howarth and George Christensen’s personal popularity in those electorates are expected to be somewhat of a buffer to a anti-government swing. Labor also needs to shore up Cathy O’Toole’s seat of Herbert, centred on Townsville, which she won by just 37 votes in 2016.

Picking up seats in Queensland is all it would take for Labor to win government since the sunshine state held the Coalition line in 2016, despite a national swing against it.

Morrison’s bus trip aimed to shore up support in key electorates; party polling showed he was a more attractive option to Queenslanders, particularly in must-win central and northern electorates, than Malcolm Turnbull.

Labor has focused much of its effort on Queensland for the past two and a half years, launching candidates early and running the Longman byelection as a test case for the federal poll due this year.

But it is not all bad news for the Coalition in Queensland. The Leichhardt MP, Warren Entsch, has confirmed to the party and the prime minister that he will run again, giving the LNP its best shot in his north Queensland seat.

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Labor sees the seat as a prime target once Entsch is no longer the candidate. He had discussed pulling the pin at the next election after internal battles with the state branch and frustration with the party room in Canberra.

But he told Guardian Australia he had decided to stay to finish work on local projects, including connecting the Daintree to a mains-like power grid, continuing his work tackling tuberculosis, and road projects.

“I call it unfinished business,” he said. “I’ve committed to not starting new projects, big projects, but to get this done. I mean, marriage equality was a 14-year long battle. I don’t have another 14 years in the parliament.”

But he, more than his Queensland party room colleagues, acknowledged holding the north would be tough.

“I don’t know if I will win it,” he said. “I have a Labor candidate, a Greens candidate, there is Pauline Hanson and Katter and Palmer as well. The ETU and CFMEU are out here protesting all the time, along with GetUp and anti-Adani folk …

“And for me, this is the second election where people who were born in 1996, when I first ran, will be voting. The second ...

“It is going to be difficult. But I think this election we just need to focus on our own seats and leave the bigger stuff to take care of itself. Be the best MP you can be, keep your concern for your own patch, don’t worry about what is happening next door, just concentrate on your own electorate.

“I think that is how we can succeed.”

Morrison has signalled the election will be held in May, after announcing the budget would be on 2 April, in which the government is set to announce a multibillion-dollar surplus.

But pressure remains for the election to be called for March, with the announcement to be made immediately after Australia Day, ahead of the NSW state election.