On Thursday, Malcolm Turnbull said he would not call for a leadership spill until he saw a letter with the names of 43 Liberal MPs who wanted a new leader.

The names are in the order in which it was signed, meaning Andrew Hastie, Tony Pasin, Sussan Ley, Craig Kelly and Michael Sukkar were among the first to call for the spill.

Each signatory had their own reasons for putting pen to paper, with Queensland MP Warren Entsch saying he would only do so if he was completely necessary as the 43rd name.

Stay up to date with the latest from the Liberal leadership spill. Follow the blog.

He said he was doing so to put an end to the uncertainty and dedicated his signature to former Liberal leader Brendan Nelson, who was ousted by Mr Turnbull in 2008.

Five pages were signed by Liberal MPs, but everyone had their own reasons. ( Supplied )

Queensland MPs Karen Andrews and Scott Buchholz also annotated their signatures.

Mr Turnbull received the 43-name petition on Friday and it read:

"Dear Prime Minister, We the undersigned request that you call a meeting of the Joint-House Parliamentary Liberal Party as soon as practicable for the purpose of determining the leadership of the party."