Asked whether the Queensland result would trigger a leadership spill, Ms Prentice hesitated and replied: "Look, I think our discussion... I think the members will look at the results tonight and they will take those to Canberra." When pressed again about the likelihood of a showdown, she said MPs would "see what he [Mr Abbott] says on Monday".

Ms Prentice predicted the Coalition would suffer the same fate as Campbell Newman's first-term state government if "we don't change what we're doing".

Jane Prentice is on the "speaker's panel" - a group of 14 MPs appointed to fill the chair when necessary. Credit:ABC

"Tony has said he has listened and learned. He is making a keynote speech on Monday at the press club [and] we can't continue as we are. We are not taking the people with us. We are getting bad feedback."

Former Labor treasurer Wayne Swan, a panelist on the ABC broadcast, seized on the comments and said Ms Prentice had thrown Mr Abbott "under a bus".

Backbenchers and ministers have been expressing growing doubts over Mr Abbott's leadership over recent weeks, however the majority of the dissatisfaction has been kept behind closed doors or through background briefings to the media. Ms Prentice's criticism is the most public but is unlikely to be the last public critique of Mr Abbott's leadership from a sitting MP over the coming days. Anger at Mr Abbott's role in the Queensland loss threatens to boil over on Sunday and overshadow his much-hyped speech.

During the ABC broadcast, Ms Prentice was also asked whether someone else would be better placed to sell the government's message but dodged providing a direct answer.

"Tony has been a very, very successful leader," she said. "He is our fourth-longest serving leader of the party. We need to examine what we are doing. We work as a team. I don't think you can hang Tony out to dry. It is team work. I think we all need to look at what we're doing. Clearly the results today are quite significant and there are some strong messages we need to take out at a federal level as well."

The LNP's hold on power rested on a knife edge on Sunday after less than three years in power, with a hung parliament a strong possibility.