The Victorian Liberals are hailing a by-election win in northeast Melbourne as a turning point for the party despite Labor not standing a candidate.
Charity manager and former youth pastor Nicole Werner secured more than 57 per cent of the primary vote to cruise to victory in the seat of Warrandyte on Saturday night.
State Opposition Leader John Pesutto said the result was as much a referendum on the Andrews government as anything else.
"What yesterday showed is that this government won't get away with it," he told reporters on Sunday.
"Sure they didn't field a candidate so they didn't have to face the music.
"But I am convinced that off the back of a horror budget in May and then the absolute debacle of the Commonwealth Games, we've reached a turning point."
Labor still holds a whopping majority in the lower house, with 55 seats to the coalition's 28.
Premier Daniel Andrews said it was a great honour to be elected to parliament and was unfazed by Labor's decision not to run a candidate.
"It's a unique by-election," he said.
The Liberals held Warrandyte on a two-party-preferred margin of 4.3 per cent but the lack of a Labor candidate has pushed it out beyond 20 per cent.
Mr Pesutto pointed to a more than 10 per cent rise in the Liberals' primary vote in Warrandyte as proof people were jumping off Labor following its landslide victory in November.
"What we're seeing in that is many Labor voters shifting directly from Labor to the Liberal Party," he said.
Mr Pesutto has repeatedly denied Warrandyte would be a test of his leadership, with the party beset by internal disputes since he stepped into the role in December.
The by-election was triggered by the retirement of veteran Liberal MP Ryan Smith, who released a resignation press release without informing Mr Pesutto.
Saturday's poll was the first Victorian state by-election since 2017, with voter turnout slumping to 75.83 per cent.
