Victorian Liberal leader John Pesutto has been spared the axe, with a mooted move to replace him petering out for now.
Rebel Liberal MPs were working the phones last week to garner support for a motion to spill the leadership team as early as Tuesday at a partyroom meeting.
It came amid Mr Pesutto’s defamation trial with ousted first-term MP Moira Deeming pitting colleagues against one another and airing internal dirty laundry in open court.
But the mooted spill motion did not materialise on Tuesday morning, with the group unable to agree on a replacement candidate.
Opposition upper house leader Georgie Crozier confirmed the trial was only mentioned in passing during the 45-minute meeting and “not one” MP raised any concerns about the leadership.
“We’re putting that behind us,” she told reporters.
Liberal deputy upper house leader Evan Mulholland said Mr Pesutto remained leader.
“We all support him,” he said.
Earlier, Mr Pesutto was flanked by Ms Crozier, Mr Mulholland, deputy leader David Southwick and South-West Coast MP Roma Britnell as he entered the party room.
“Back to work,” he declared.
Veteran Liberal MP Bev McArthur, a member of the party’s conservative wing, deflected questions about whether she supported Mr Pesutto as leader.
“It’s a beautiful day … just a very bad government,” she said.
Former treasurer Kim Wells, who confirmed he was considering his options after being approached to run by several colleagues, arrived with Polwarth MP Richard Riordan.
“People were very kind,” he said.
Berwick MP Brad Battin, who lost to Mr Pesutto by one vote in a leadership contest after the 2022 election, confirmed he would not be challenging.
Chris Crewher, whose name was raised as another possible contender, would not be drawn on whether he had ambitions to be leader.
Another MP touted as a future leader, former tennis star Sam Groth, told journalists they were “wasting their time”.
One Liberal MP, speaking to AAP on condition of anonymity, described the coup push as “hare-brained” and “extreme”, given recent positive polling.
Another senior Liberal MP described detractors as an embarrassing “rabble” and said the push died because they didn’t have the numbers.
“They’re trying to use this whole (defamation) case to mount a challenge and it’s not there,” he told AAP on Monday.
“If the best they’ve got is Kim Wells and Chris Crewther, God help us.”
Latest polling from independent outfit RedBridge showed the coalition has pulled ahead of Labor 51 to 49 on a two-party preferred basis for the first time since June 2017.
Under Mr Pesutto, the coalition’s primary vote has lifted from 38 per cent to 40 per cent since June while Labor’s dropped from 35 per cent to 30 per cent.
