Federal Election 2025: The Victorian seats that are still too close to call

Liberal MP Keith Wolahan has conceded defeat in the eastern suburbs seat of Menzies, while the battle continues between Monique Ryan and Amelia Hamer in Kooyong.

Five federal seats across Victoria remain in doubt, as counting of ballots continues on Thursday.

Liberal MP Keith Wolahan has conceded defeat to Labor candidate Gabriel Ng in the eastern suburbs seat of Menzies.

Mr Wolahan, who had been hanging on after doing well in postal votes, trailed Mr Ng by 1288 votes at 5.30pm.

In a statement on Thursday night, the first-term MP said: “The votes are in, and I didn’t quite get there”.

Keith Wolahan has conceded defeat to Labor’s Gabriel Ng in the seat of Menzies. Picture: David Caird

“The Liberal Party is an institution of democracy, founded on values worth fighting for,” Mr Wolahan said.

“It will recover, and I will be there to help. That is why I still believe Australia’s best days are ahead.”

Mr Wolahan thanked his family, volunteers, and the people of Menzies, saying serving in the parliament had been the “honour of my life”.

The Herald Sun on Tuesday revealed concerns had been raised with the Australian Electoral Commission about votes for Mr Wolahan going missing, which was put down to a counting error.

Electoral Commissioner Jeff Pope said counting the largest number of ballot papers in history was a “mammoth undertaking” but it was making good progress.

“We have a large number of seats that are very close … but probably the more unprecedented element of this is actually the number of challenging two-candidate preferred, with the largest number of three-candidate preferred counts underway that we’ve ever done before, and also some really unpredictable preference flows,” Mr Pope said.

“It’s complex. We’re on it. We’re making good progress.”

Tim Wilson celebrates after defeating Zoe Daniel in the seat of Goldstein. Picture: Jake Nowakowski

Experts said the contest for the second and third spots remained close in Flinders, and more counts were needed to get a result in Monash.

There has also been an “unprecedented situation” in Calwell, with several of the 13 candidates receiving a sizeable portion of the vote.

“We anticipate that will be one of the most complex distribution of preferences we’ve ever done. I fully expect that will go well into kind of week five, depending on how we track through,” Ms Gleeson said.

The AEC decided not to proceed with a three-candidate preferred count and may have to wait for a distribution of preferences to determine the order of exclusion.

The electoral watchdog expects its declarations of the winning candidates will be later than usual because postal and declaration votes can come in up to 13 days after polling.

Bendigo

Labor MP Lisa Chesters is leading by 1009 votes.

The incumbent has had an 8 per cent swing against her but gained a small lead over Nationals candidate Andrew Lethlean as of 5pm on Wednesday.

The race remains neck-and-neck with 87 per cent of the ballot papers counted.

Labor MP Lisa Chesters is leading by 1009 votes. Picture: Supplied

Calwell

Labor candidate Basem Abdo is leading the primary votes.

However, preferences are yet to be counted, which could put independent challenger Carly Moore in the box seat.

More than 74 per cent of the votes have been counted.

The seat in Melbourne’s northwestern suburbs is expected to be one of the last in the country to be called.

Flinders

Liberal MP Zoe McKenzie leading first preference votes.

At least 83 per cent of the votes in the Mornington Peninsula electorate have been counted.

Ms McKenzie remains ahead of independent Ben Smith with 41.55 per cent of first preference votes but preferences have not been counted.

Liberal candidate Amelia Hamer is trying to claw back the blue-ribbon seat of Kooyong from Teal MP Monique Ryan. Picture: David Crosling

Kooyong

Teal MP Monique Ryan is 724 votes ahead.

The affluent inner-Melbourne seat of Kooyong remains hotly contested with 81.2 per cent of the votes counted.

Dr Ryan leads Liberal candidate Amelia Hamer 50.36 – 49.64 on a two candidate preferred basis.

The Australian Electoral Commission has played down a boost to the number of votes in favour of Dr Ryan.

A reconciliation of the votes cast at pre-poll in Kooyong on Wednesday saw Dr Ryan’s lead over Liberal candidate Amelia Hamer extended from 366 votes to 724 votes overnight.

Deputy Electoral Commissioner Kath Gleeson said there was a heavy scrutineer presence in close seats, including Kooyong and Menzies.

Monique Ryan has surged ahead of Liberal candidate Amelia Hamer. Picture: Tony Gough

“It is very normal for us to see some anomalies from the initial count picked up in fresh scrutiny. That’s what it’s for,” Ms Gleeson said.

“So we are seeing, in some instances, some movement between the initial scrutiny results and the fresh scrutiny result.

“We’re certainly not seeing an increased instance of that relative to previous events.”

Ms Gleeson acknowledged that scrutineering across close seats was slowing the vote count but said it was important for “transparency and accountability”.

Two lots of 2000 postal votes for the electorate are expected to be counted this afternoon.

Monash

Liberal candidate Mary Aldred ahead.

Former member turned independent Russell Broadbent on Wednesday afternoon thanked supporters, saying they had “fought the good fight” and it had been an honour serving for the past 20 years.

Ms Aldred has 32 per cent of the first preference votes, followed by Labor candidate Tully Fletcher on 20 per cent and independent Deb Leonard on 17 per cent.

Preferences are yet to be factored in.