An opposition push to topple Jacinta Allan has been slammed as the Victorian premier's predecessor makes a rare public appearance.
Opposition Leader Jess Wilson gave notice to state parliament's lower house on Thursday that the coalition would move a motion of no confidence in the premier and her ministers.
Only one motion of no confidence can be moved each four-year term and can lead to the dissolution of parliament if passed, well before the scheduled state election on November 28.
Ms Wilson said there must be accountability for government failings, citing record crime, skyrocketing net debt, major project cost blowouts and delays, and the 2026 Commonwealth Games fiasco.
"We could bring forward the election - I know Victorians would want to see that," the state Liberal leader told reporters.
The earliest the motion can be debated and voted on is July 28, when state parliament returns following a six-week break.
It is doomed to fail, with Labor holding an overwhelming majority in the lower house.
Ms Allan's chair sat empty as the motion was foreshadowed, prompting outcry from the government benches.
"The premier was gutless not to stay," Ms Wilson said.
Various Labor ministers and backbenchers blasted the opposition's move as a "stunt", "gimmick" and "waste of time".
"I'm not sure where Jess Wilson thinks it's going to go," Energy Minister Lily D'Ambrosio said.
Ms Allan has faced internal pressure over Labor's tanking poll numbers, but a speculated leadership challenge did not eventuate when the party caucus met on Tuesday.
Nine newspapers' latest Victorian Resolve surveys this week showed primary support for Labor falling to 26 per cent, level with Ms Wilson's coalition.
Support for One Nation was up three percentage points to 24 per cent.
Senior minister Steve Dimopoulos said the focus of voters was fairly on Labor as the government of the day, but predicted the worm would turn closer to the election.
"There will be time when they'll have to go and fill out a ballot paper and have to think to themselves 'what am I doing? What happens on Sunday after the election if One Nation ... is sitting at Treasury Place governing for Victoria with a minority Liberal government?" he said.
It has been almost six years since a no-confidence vote to oust Daniel Andrews as premier during Melbourne's second COVID lockdown was defeated 44-23.
Mr Andrews appeared at parliament on Wednesday night to support retiring Pakenham MP Emma Vulin as she gave an emotional valedictory speech through a text-to-speech tool.
Ms Vulin, who was diagnosed with motor neurone disease in 2024, thanked Mr Andrews and Ms Allan and nominated contributing to voluntary assisted dying reforms as one of her proudest moments in parliament.
The former premier has barely been sighted in public since reportedly being hospitalised following a medical episode in 2025.