Saturday's contest in Northcote between Labor and the Greens could be repeated at the 2018 election after new Liberal state director Nick Demiris​ announced a controversial plan to not run candidates in several inner-city seats.

Running Liberal candidates in Labor-held inner-city seats effectively made them into safe Labor seats by splitting the opposition vote, Mr Demiris told the Liberal Party's State Council in Lardner, an hour south-east of Melbourne, on Saturday.

"If we don't run in some inner-Melbourne seats – like Brunswick, like Melbourne, like Richmond, maybe like Northcote – Labor loses," said Mr Demiris, who was appointed to the role in September.

The Greens have steadily eroded Labor's margin in each of those traditional stronghold seats since 2002, and won Melbourne in 2014.