Julie Bishop is weighing her political future despite an offer to return to the front bench of Prime Minister Scott Morrison, after being abandoned by her WA colleagues in the leadership vote.

Ms Bishop put her hand up for the nation’s top job after prime minister Malcolm Turnbull was toppled by conservative forces, but she was knocked out in the first round of voting, receiving only 11 votes.

While few believed Ms Bishop was a genuine contender for the leadership, given strong antipathy from the conservatives that destroyed Mr Turnbull’s hold on the leadership, her small vote surprised commentators and those close to her tilt.

The partyroom ballot is secret, but it is understood that Ms Bishop’s camp believes all of her votes came from interstate MPs and Senators, and none of her 16 WA Liberal colleagues backed her bid for the leadership.

After failing to win support in her bid to be prime minister, the long-serving deputy to three Liberal leaders (four if both of Malcolm Turnbull’s terms as leader are counted) over the past decade, did not put her hand up to run as the deputy for a fifth.

Ms Bishop was praised by Mr Turnbull and Mr Morrison, who made it clear he would offer her a role in his new front bench.

“She has been an amazing contributor and a driver of foreign policy, and an advocate for Liberal values from one end of this country to the other and one end of this world to the other,” Mr Morrison said.

It is understood the two have not yet spoken, and Ms Bishop is believed to be weighing up whether she wants to continue as a minister or return to the backbench.

Mr Turnbull described his former deputy as a “very dear friend”.

“She’s been an extraordinary foreign minister. I would say our finest foreign minister. And she has been a loyal deputy and just a great colleague and friend,” he said.

Ms Bishop would not comment on her immediate future yesterday, but said she remained “committed to the interests of the people of Western Australia and our nation”. “Any decision about my future will be made in that context,” she said.

While there has been no suggestion Ms Bishop is likely to quit her safe seat of Curtin, her long service in Government and considerable profile on the international stage would very likely put her in high demand for corporate roles, or a future overseas in international organisations such as the United Nations.