It comes as Victorian Liberal Party president Michael Kroger resigned at a state assembly meeting on Friday night. Mr Kroger has been under pressure to resign after his party's disastrous election loss. Shadow attorney-general and Liberal leadership aspirant John Pesutto is also in danger of losing his seat in Hawthorn, where he has fallen 163 votes behind Labor candidate John Kennedy. Mr Kennedy is a retired school teacher who once taught former Liberal prime minister Tony Abbott. Tourism spokeswoman Heidi Victoria – one of just four female Liberal shadow ministers in the last parliament – has also slipped 266 votes behind Labor’s Jackson Taylor in Bayswater. David Southwick campaigning in Caulfield.

Former attorney-general Robert Clark was a surprise loser on election night in Box Hill, a seat he held for 26 years. Upper house front-bench MPs Inga Peulich and Craig Ondarchie also appear to have been voted out of parliament, although legislative council results have not been declared. Caulfield had previously been considered a likely Liberal hold but the result tightened dramatically on Friday. It is understood Mr Southwick remains hopeful of winning the majority of postal votes yet to be counted and of holding onto the seat. Labor's candidate, Sorina Grasso, is a teacher at Monash University's English Language Centre.

She was quietly confident after polls closed on Saturday night. "It's looking really, really good," Ms Grasso told supporters. "It's been a wild ride." Mr Southwick led development of the opposition’s energy policies, including a promise to underwrite a new 500 megawatt power station, most likely using natural gas. The promise came in for special criticism in a scathing election review by Andrew Bond, the unsuccessful Liberal candidate for neighbouring Albert Park. “Our energy policy was a vague proposal for a 500 megawatt power plant via some undefined energy source, in an unknown location, with an unknown cost, that we refused to provide any specific detail for,” Mr Bond wrote.

Loading “Is it any wonder candidates were not able to articulate clearly the policy when asked to do so.” Liberal candidate for Frankston Michael Lamb became unstuck when Sky News host David Speers asked him to explain the promise. Labor Party campaign strategists generally give electorates an A, B or C, depending on how likely they are to be won or lost. Seats designated A receive the highest priority and are allocated the most campaign resources.

One senior Labor figure said the party never considered Caulfield and Hawthorn as realistic gains and they were placed well down on the priority allocation scale. However, he said the party had been watching Hawthorn because of the rise in the Greens vote. "We didn't expect it to go red. We thought it would go Green," he said. Southern metropolitan upper house MP Margaret Fitzherbert was another Liberal who lost her seat in Saturday’s wipeout. She told ABC Radio on Friday that the party had given too much oxygen to marginal issues such as section 18C of the racial discrimination act.

“We have given them far too much centrality in what we take to voters and we have paid the price for it,” Ms Fitzherbert said. She also said it appeared increasingly likely that Mr Pesutto would be defeated. “If John Pesutto loses that seat – and it looks increasingly likely – that is a huge loss to the parliamentary Liberal party,” Ms Fitzherbert said. The VEC says there is no threshold for a recount: it is at the discretion of the commissioner. Final results for the handful of seats still in doubt are expected to filter through in coming days.

Results in the upper house, where Labor could have as many as 19 of 40 seats and the Coalition as few as 11, will be declared on December 11. with Paul Sakkal

Seats still in play Bayswater Liberal seat held by Heidi Victoria on 4.6 per cent after 2014. Losing this electorate would cost the Coalition another frontbench MP and further erode its gender balance. Margin Labor by 266 votes. Brunswick Before the election this seat was tipped as Labor’s most likely loss to the Greens. Greens candidate Tim Read was marginally ahead of Labor’s Cindy O’Connor at last count. Margin Greens ahead by 493 votes.

Benambra Liberals have clawed back votes after a massive swing towards independent candidate Jacqui Hawkins in this northern Victoria seat. Held by incumbent Bill Tilley, Benambra was previously in the Liberals’ top 10 safest seats. Margin Liberals ahead by 7069 votes. Caulfield Opposition energy spokesman David Southwick looked set to lose the seat last Saturday night but came back during the week. A massive win if Labor’s Sorina Grasso is elected. Margin Labor ahead by 118 votes. Hawthorn

Losing Hawthorn would be a crushing for the Liberals with shadow attorney-general John Pesutto considered a front runner for the leadership if he holds on. Nobody, not even Labor, expected it would be this close with retired teacher John Kennedy now a possible MP. Margin Labor ahead by 163 votes. Morwell Held by Nationals turned independent MP Russell Northe. Out of 11 candidates it now appears that Mr Northe and Labor candidate Mark Richards are the only ones left. Margin Independent ahead by 1434 votes. Prahran This seat has changed hands between Labor, Liberal and the Greens at the three elections before this year. Greens pulling ahead. Margin Greens by 5844 votes.

Ripon Previously the Liberals’ most marginal seat, with incumbent MP Louise Staley holding it by just 0.8 per cent. Although Ms Staley was ahead at last count, Ripon could fall to Labor’s Sarah De Santis. Margin Liberals ahead by 73 votes.