Labor leader Dean Winter’s political gamble to plunge Tasmanian politics into further instability and convince election-fatigued voters to turf out an 11-year-old Liberal government over the state’s parlous finances seems to have backfired.

Tasmanian Labor recorded its worst primary result in history, voters delivered another hung parliament and the Liberals were on track to win at least 14 seats – the same number it held heading into the weekend election triggered by a vote of no-confidence against Premier Jeremy Rockliff.