Labor's primary vote of 40 per cent compares to the Coalition's 38 - down three percentage points in a month. It was 45 per cent at the September 2013 election, while Labor's was just 33 at that time. Prime Minister Tony Abbott addresses the media in Sydney on Sunday. Credit:Anthony Johnson Based on preference flows from that election, Labor now enjoys an eight-point buffer, with 54 per cent of the two-party-preferred vote to the Coalition's 46. The Coalition achieved an actual share of the vote in 2013 of 53.5 to Labor's 46.5. However when voters were asked where their second preference would go now, Labor's lead grew to a landslide-inducing 12 point advantage. Labor now commands a 56 per cent share of the overall vote compared to just 44 per cent for the combined Liberal and Nationals parties. The poll shock comes as Mr Abbott's leadership hangs by a thread amid speculation of a possible leadership challenge aimed at reinstalling Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull to the Liberal helm, replacing the man who displaced him in 2009.

Foreign Minister Julie Bishop, the deputy Liberal leader, is also an option. Liberals are actively discussing the leadership in the wake of a horror start to 2015, capped off by the Prime Minister's self-inflicted knights and dames controversy, and the spectacular repudiation of the Liberal National Party government in Queensland. Many worry the Campbell Newman-led LNP government had approached government and politics in the same was as the Abbott administration in Canberra, suggesting it will go the same way unless radical surgery is undertaken. Senior ministers continue to rally to the Prime Minister's cause, claiming he will lead the government to the next election. But insiders admit a process is under way which may now be unstoppable.

Mr Abbott on Sunday reminded voters he had been elected Prime Minister and said leadership was not a popularity contest. "The people of Australia elected me as Prime Minister … but in the end government is not a popularity contest it's a competence contest," he said. Mr Abbott played down federal factors in the Queensland result but conceded his decision to make Prince Philip a knight had been a "distraction" for "a couple of days". Loading "Obviously there are lessons from the result in Queensland. The lessons are not to give up on reform but to make sure that everything you propose is fully explained and well justified, and obviously that's a lesson we're determined to learn in Canberra as well," he said.