Labor stalwarts believe the party's state election chances are alive after sensationally swapping premiers, but experts warn there will be no margin for error during the campaign.
Ben Carroll emerged victorious as Victoria's new premier on Tuesday, hours after Jacinta Allan sensationally stood down following a tense stand-off.
Quickly distancing himself from the Labor Party of yesterday, Mr Carroll marked a "new chapter for Victoria", calling a royal commission into alleged construction sector corruption.
Ms Allan repeatedly refused to call an inquiry after corruption-busting lawyer Geoffrey Watson estimated corruption on Big Build sites had cost the state $15 billion.
"Let me make one thing very clear: I am not Daniel Andrews; I am not Jacinta Allan," he said.
The Niddrie MP revealed his first call as premier was to Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Mike Bush to promise the force the powers and funding to fight crime.
"Under my Victorian government, when crimes are committed they will be dealt with as communities expect," he said.
But Mr Carroll had been Ms Allan's "partner in crime" for three years as her deputy premier, shadow attorney-general James Newbury said.
"Ben Carroll never stood up to stop crime," he said.
Labor will need to overcome waning opinion poll results and a growing mood for change to secure a historic fourth-term in government.
Fresh Newspoll results on Monday revealed the Labor Party was trailing the coalition 52 per cent to 48 per cent on a primary vote basis.
Former Victorian premier Steve Bracks, who replaced John Brumby as Labor leader in 1999 before steering the party unexpected election victory seven months later, said Mr Carroll's ascension to the top job put the party in good stead.
"It's going to give a bit of spark to the Labor Party to go better and well and to be very competitive at the election in November," Mr Bracks told AAP.
"It's going to be hand to hand combat in the 88 seats around the state.
"It'll be a very tight election, but one that Labor can win."
That "spark" could be enough to boost Labor's approvals ratings and get them over the line at the polls in November, election analyst Ben Raue said.
"Labor, in the current situation, probably could win a majority on quite a low vote because they would face One Nation in some areas, they'd face the coalition in other areas," Raue said.
"Large numbers of seats can flip on relatively small numbers of votes and if that Labor vote can tick up a few percentage points and get them into the 40s, I think it is winnable."
Labor holds a comfortable majority in the lower house, but "everything has to go right" on the campaign trail for the party to retain its lead, Monash University political scientist Zareh Ghazarian said.
“They have to demonstrate and convince voters what the new vision is and how will they get there.
“It is hard to say but you would have to give Labor a good chance of being able to turn things around."
Despite Mr Carroll moving fast to address criticisms that had plagued Labor, he still needed to convince punters he could lead, Redbridge pollster and former Liberal strategist Tony Barry said.
“History has been littered with people who you think would be fantastic but they were electorally unsuccessful,” he said.
“(Former prime minister) Julia Gillard is somebody who on paper should have been a significant force but for a variety of reasons ... he wasn’t successful electorally.
"Leadership comes with its own attributes you can't identify until they're on display."
