As it happened: Werribee, Prahran byelection; Major parties battle for crucial Victorian seats

Thanks for reading our coverage of the Werribee and Prahran byelections.

This is where we’ll leave it for tonight.

As it stands, both seats are too close to call and counting is expected to continue on Monday morning, but we’ll bring you the latest updates and reactions on Sunday.

In Werribee, Labor holds a slender lead on a two party preferred basis, with candidate John Lister at just over 50 per cent at 11.30pm.

But pre-poll votes are yet to be counted in the seat that Labor has held since 1979.

“It’s very, very tight, it’s going down to the wire,” Premier Jacinta Allan told supporters on Saturday night.

In Prahran, the Liberal Party has edged in front on a two candidate preferred basis, but the seat is also too close to call.

Liberal candidate Rachel Westaway has more than 51 per cent of the two party preferred vote, with about two-thirds of the ballots counted.

The VEC just issued an 11pm update on the count in Werribee.

With almost 75 per cent of votes counted, Liberal candidate Steve Murphy had his nose in front with just over 29 per cent of first preference votes, while Labor’s John Lister had more than 28 per cent. Independent candidate Paul Hopper had almost 15 per cent.

On a two candidate preferred basis, Lister was leading with almost 53 per cent.

There was no change to the Prahran numbers where, with about two-thirds counted, Greens candidate Angelica Di Camillo and Liberal candidate Rachel Westaway locked at 36 per cent of the primary vote.

At the latest update, Westaway was ahead on a two party preferred basis with almost 52 per cent. Almost 13 per cent have voted for independent Tony Lupton.

This has been a humbling night for the Victorian Labor Party.

Premier Jacinta Allan and her government expected Werribee to send them a message, but their ears will be fairly ringing for weeks and months to come.

Jacinta Allan arriving at Labor’s election night bash. Credit: Luis Enrique Ascui

The size of the final swing against Labor is not yet known, nor whether its candidate, local teacher John Lister, can hang onto a seat that hasn’t been in Liberal hands since 1979.

But if the pattern of the votes counted so far is indicative of what’s to come, voters have abandoned Labor in greater numbers than at any byelection since the Andrews government came to power 10 years ago.

The problem for the Liberals, if they end up losing the seat on preferences, is that not enough of these same voters bought what they are selling, nor who they chose to sell it.

Allan addressed party supporters just after 10pm at the Werribee Centrals Cricket Club and was humble in the face of a stinging voter backlash.

“I am listening, my government is listening,” she said.

“Whatever the result tonight, we must remember what we are fighting for, who we are fighting for.”

Her remarks suggest that Allan and the Victorian Labor Party understand this is more than a customary byelection touch-up in a long held, safe Labor seat.

Neither Werribee nor her government are safe now.

Yet-to-be counted pre-poll votes could benefit the Liberal Party in Werribee as Labor sits slightly ahead after more than half the votes have been counted, says ABC election analyst Antony Green.

“At the moment, if it’s just on the polling day votes, the Labor Party could probably get over the line. But there’s pre-polls to come, which normally don’t favour the Labor Party,” Green told ABC News.

“And that’s why I think the premier is not prepared to call the result. They [Labor] may have seen scrutineers’ figures, but we are yet to see any numbers.”

Green also said Prahran was coming down to the wire, with the Liberal Party in a slightly stronger position.

“Prahran looks like the Liberals have a reasonable chance of picking it up,” said the election specialist.

“At the moment, the Liberal party is ahead, but they’re not ahead by far enough to be able to call it.

“At the end of the night, both seats remain in doubt. The Liberals are ahead in Prahran and it’s probably Labor ahead slightly in Werribee, but we’re really not sure because we haven’t seen the pre-poll vote counts.”

The vote count in Werribee is still too close to call tonight, though Labor might be breathing just a little easier with slightly more than half of the vote counted.

The Victorian Liberals have wrapped up proceedings at their gathering for the party faithful at Wolf on Watton, a bar overlooking a beautiful bend in the Werribee River, but have not conceded defeat.

Deputy leader Sam Groth told the room Labor had suffered a strong swing in Werribee and the Liberals were still a chance to gain the seat for the first time since the 1970s.

“We haven’t given up tonight,” Groth said. “We know there’s huge amounts of pre-poll numbers [to be counted].

“The swing that we’ve seen though, the swing that we’ve seen away from the government tonight, if we replicate that in 21 months’ time, we will see a change in government in Victoria.”

Labor has edged slightly further ahead with 51 per cent of the votes counted. John Lister has 52.72 per cent of two-party preferred votes; Steve Murphy has 47.28 per cent.

Groth conceded that the Liberals had disregarded the west in the past and said the party needed to work hard to demonstrate to voters in the west that they care, if they are to win government at the next state election.

“The west is somewhere that we haven’t spent a lot of time as a party, and haven’t put a lot of effort into over a period of time.

“The effort that we’ve seen, from not just the parliamentarians, from our grassroots members, from the supporters, from the donors, to come out and show that we really care about people in western Melbourne … you have our commitment that we are 100 per cent going to be back here.

“We know that the west is part of our path to government in 2026.”

Werribee candidate John Lister also took to the stage to praise the community bonds he’s discovered after knocking on thousands of doors.

“We knew it was going to be a close count. But this might be longer than we expected,” Lister said.

Premier Jacinta Allan, left, and Labor candidate for Werribee John Lister. Credit: Luis Enrique Ascui

“This was never going to be an easy election, and I was never going to take it for granted.

“The community has grown a lot in the last 10 years. What we cannot forget is that these communities out here rely on Labor governments – strong, reforming Labor governments – governments who deliver for them.

“While we’ve made a lot of progress out here, it’s clear that the community wants and needs more. That’s the message that they’ve sent tonight.”

Premier Jacinta Allan has taken to the stage at Labor’s byelection function in Werribee.

“There is still a way to go,” she says, referring to the fact that there is no result as of 10pm.

“It’s very, very tight. It’s going down to the wire.”

The premier added that byelections are a tough ask for any government and an opportunity for communities to “tell us how we’re feeling”.

“I am listening. My government is listening,” Allan said.

“We have to do more and we will.”

A mishap at the Victorian Electoral Commission’s early voting centre has left the Werribee byelection too close to call.

A leak in the roof has delayed counting of pre-poll and postal votes, leaving just one third of votes counted by 10pm.

Premier Jacinta Allan warned that the byelection remained tight and would likely go down to the wire.

Greens MP Ellen Sandell has called on Greens volunteers to sign up to scrutineer on Monday morning, saying it’s too close to call tonight.

“We need to make sure every vote for Angelica [Di Camillo] counts,” Sandell said. “But it is on a knife’s edge.

“Prahran is always a really tightly held race. We need to make sure that here in Prahran that every single person who casts their vote is counted.”

With thunderous applause, Di Camillo said there needed to be more voices outside the major parties and “nothing changes if nothing changes”.

“Right now we are seeing a lot of disenfranchisement from young people, but all you have to do is lookout into the crowd and see … young people will get involved if they are fighting for the issues they care about.

“I have so much pride and gratitude for all of you. We have won Prahran on a knife’s edge before and we can do it again.”

The Liberal Party has just edged ahead ever so slightly in Prahran. As we’ve already mentioned, this seat will be go down to preferences and both the Liberals and the Greens are expecting this one to be very tight.

Liberal candidate Rachel Westaway, at 9.45pm, was now ahead on a two-party preferred basis at 50.84 per cent over the Greens candidate Angelica Di Camillo.

This could keep changing as more votes are counted.

Both the frontrunners have a primary vote of about 36 per cent.