Mr Turnbull will be under extreme pressure to a least fill the vacancies with conservatives. Rising starts like ACT Liberal Senator Zed Seselja and Victorian MP Michael Sukkar are the names most mentioned among conservatives.

With the result too close to call, Liberals are now predicting the government will be lucky if it scores 76 seats, the bare minimum it needs to govern in its own right. Mr Turnbull said he remained "quietly confident" of forming majority government.

Of at least the 12 seats the Coalition has so far lost, more than half were held by Turnbull supporters. These include Peter Hendy in Eden-Monaro, Wyatt Roy in Longman, both of whom were ministers, as well as Fiona Scott in Lindsay and possibly Ewen Jones in Herbert.

Tasmanian Senator Richard Colbeck, a minister, also lost his spot.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull on election night. Andrew Meares

'No authority'

Some MPs, such as Senator Scott Ryan, argued that the Coalition should treat the situation like 1998 when John Howard nearly lost but went on to wind handsomely the next time.

"I think, quite frankly, a slim majority acts as a form of self-discipline," he said.


But others scoffed at this theory with one saying Mr Turnbull had "no authority" and the government would lose heavily in 2019 under his leadership.

"We're in a terrible conundrum now," said one Liberal.

"Do we roll another elected Prime Minister which perpetrates the revolving door or do we go to a massive loss in 2019."

Several Liberals who spoke to The Australian Financial Review said Mr Turnbull and those around him had alienated the conservative base by reaching for the middle ground. This had pushed people towards the likes of Pauline Hanson in the Senate.

They said the surprise raid on superannuation, especially the measures considered retrospective, was emblematic of taking the conservative vote for granted.

"He's going to have to do a lot of things differently," said one conservative MP.

​Peter Dutton has been pushed as an alternative to Julie Bishop as deputy leader but he has taken a hit in his seat and is clinging to a slim lead.

Mr Abbott said now was not to the time to speculate when asked it he should return to the frontbench or ever the leadership.


He said it was time to "take stock, think and reflect".

In a thinly-velied swipe at Mr Turnbull's election night speech, Mr Abbott paid tribute to those who lost their seats.

"We don't know the outcome of the election yet, all we can say at the moment is a lot of good people have lost their seats," Mr Abbott said.

"Good people who tried hard, who did what they thought were best for our country, who were in the Parliament are no longer in the Parliament."

There was widespread dismay at Mr Turnbull's election night speech win which he failed to mention the many colleagues who had lost their seats or recognise that the voters had spoken.

Instead he launched an attack on Labor and said the police should investigate Labor's Medicare scare campaign.

"That speech was an abject embarrassment," said another MP.