Victoria can't offset losses for ALP

VICTORIA has failed to deliver the swing expected to save Julia Gillard and her government, with her home state recording less than 1 per cent swing to Labor.

VICTORIA has failed to deliver the swing expected to save Julia Gillard and her government, with the Prime Minister's home state only recording less than 1 per cent swing to Labor.

Labor was hoping Ms Gillard would pick up a few extra seats to help offset losses in Queensland and NSW and the latest Newspoll suggested as much as a 6.2 per cent swing to Labor.

But as the latest results from the AEC show, Victorians have only given Labor an extra .95 per cent swing on tw- party preferred terms.

Rob Mitchell has won the state's most marginal seat of McEwen, beating Liberal candidate Cameron Caine who replaced long time MP Fran Bailey who retired.

Labor also held the marginal seat of Deakin but lost the seat of Melbourne for the first time in decades to Greens candidate Adam Bandt. Former ACTU official Cath Bowtell could not fight off the anti-Labor sentiment in the progressive seat that had been held by retiring MP Lindsay Tanner.

Labor candidate Laura Smyth also seems to have snatched the seat of La Trobe from Liberal MP Jason Wood.
But the marginal seats of Aston and Dunkley - which seemed a chance to some Labor insiders last week and were desperately needed to offset losses elsewhere- were retained by their sitting Liberal MPs.

Ms Gillard did win her seat of Labor with a swing of 4 per cent.

The knife-edge seat of Corangamite is still too close to call.