The Greens' leader Samantha Ratnam and Brunswick candidate Tim Read campaigning in the seat. Credit:Justin McManus Dr Read said the seat's key issues included bike lanes and public transport. "The trams are just too crowded to board in peak hour." Statewide issues such as Victoria's continued reliance on coal power and the disappearance of native forests had also helped sway voters' minds, he said. He was 514 votes ahead of Labor's Cindy O'Connor or 50.59 per cent of the two-party preferred vote with 87.72 per cent of the vote counted.

"Since 1904 this seat was held by Labor, so this is historic," he said earlier via a Facebook post. "A few more postal votes were counted this morning, but too few to alter the result ..." This is the second time Dr Read, a Brunswick resident for two decades, has run for the seat. In 2014 he lost to former emergency services minister Jane Garrett, who took 52 per cent of the vote. Ms O'Connor, a union organiser, won Labor preselection in Brunswick after Ms Garrett decided to move to Victoria's upper house.

In his post Dr Read thanked Ms Garrett and Ms O'Connor for their hard work and said he looked forward to working "positively" with the Labor government. "I will also work to assist Labor in making good on their local campaign promises," he said. Dr Read has been a sexual health doctor for the past 20 years after heading to Darwin in 1999 to work with AIDS and HIV-infected patients. Before last week's election, the Greens had speculated on possibly holding the balance of power in the Victorian parliament. Instead, Labor is expected to win at least 53 of the lower house's 88 seats, and the Greens are likely to lose MPs rather than gain. Dr Tim Read and Ms Ratnam on Sydney Road, Brunswick, on Saturday afternoon. Credit:Chris Hopkins

Ellen Sandell has retained the seat of Melbourne for the Greens. The party also pulled ahead in counting in Prahran, with Sam Hibbins 5844 votes ahead of Liberal rival Katie Allen on preferences. Ms Allen has recorded 2588 more first-preference votes than Mr Hibbins; he is relying on preferences from the Labor candidate to win the seat. "[Sam Hibbins] has been rewarded with a quite significant swing toward him," Ms Ratnam said. "It’s very, very close but we’re waiting in the next few days for that process to progress to a point where Sam can be returned." On Saturday, Ms Ratnam hit back at those who had dismissed her party, following a campaign dogged by controversy. "Every single time people try to tell us the Greens won't win, and every time we defy them."

She blamed group voting tickets and preference deals for the party's losses in Victoria's upper house. “In the upper house, we have been warning for months the group voting system is distorting democracy," she said. "It’s resulting in people being elected on very small votes, dislodging people who have significant votes. It’s something we will make a priority for reform. “Group voting tickets and the microparties doing deals with each other could mean some very dire results for the upper house, with a very right-wing conservative crossbench.” Liberals sweat on Hawthorn, inchahead in Caulfield A number of seats remain in play, with counting still close but favouring Labor in the previously safe Liberal seat of Hawthorn.

Loading It comes as Victorian Liberal Party president Michael Kroger resigned at a state assembly meeting on Friday night. Mr Kroger had been under pressure to step aside after his party's disastrous election loss. In Hawthorn, Liberal leadership aspirant John Pesutto trails Labor's John Kennedy by 164 votes. If he can hold his seat, Mr Pesutto is expected to challenge Michael O'Brien for the Liberal next Thursday following Matthew Guy's resignation this week as Opposition leader. In Caulfield, Liberal candidate David Southwick moved ahead of Labor's Sorina Grasso on Saturday evening, polling 338 more votes after trailing her for much of the count.

A Liberal loss in Caulfield would be historic, as Labor has never held the seat. It would leave the Liberal Party further stripped of established talent as it seeks to build a team to hold a dominant Labor government to account following Premier Daniel Andrews' landslide win last weekend. In Bayswater, former Liberal minister Heidi Victoria is trailing Labor's Taylor Jackson by 258 votes. The rural seat of Ripon is still neck and neck, with Liberal incumbent Louise Staley overtaking Labor's Sarah De Santis by 83 votes. The Liberals have widened their lead considerably in the northern Victorian seat of Benambra after a big swing towards independent candidate Jacqui Hawkins.