A tumultuous decade of state and federal politics has ended with Victoria firmly cemented as one of Australia's last Labor heartlands, according to leading political commentators.
The decade saw the revolving door of Prime Ministers, partially over ideological differences, and the return to the Labor state ascendency, after a brief period of coalition rule.
And according to Monash University senior lecturer in politics Dr Nick Economou, it was a decade - federally - of little social reform.
"We saw Australia's first female Prime Minister (Julia Gillard), that was no rip-roaring success, and the rise and fall of Labor," Dr Economou said.
"But it's not as if the period was a total triumph for the Liberals.
"They lost a few leaders along the way as well, over ideological arm wrestles."
He said it was a decade of few great social reforms, similar to Medicare and the Howard-era gun laws.
"The only great reform of any note that I can recall was the marriage equality legislation; everything else was fairly mundane," he said.
"It clearly exacted a big price; Malcolm Turnbull paid for it with his leadership."
Social conservatives then took over the leadership of the Liberal party.
"Over the past 10 years, we have seen a failure of a national climate change policy, that's capable of placating the warring tribes," he said.
"It would be unfair to say there was no climate change policy, rather a failure of both major parties to put a price on carbon.
"The political damage this has caused is extraordinary, over the decade it has taken out leaders such as Rudd, Gillard, Abbott and Turnbull."
As leader, Malcolm Turnbull managed to alienate sections of the coalition.
"I suspect there was a lot of anger amongst certain Liberals in certain places," he said.
"Once Turnbull fell as leader, the Liberal National Party's position in Queensland improved dramatically.
"When Turnbull was leader, they couldn't win a by-election."
He said it would be some time before Victoria became the jewel in the federal Liberal Party's crown again.
"I think NSW and Queensland are the jewel in the crown now, the centre of gravity has shifted to NSW," he said.
"Malcolm Turnbull was a good fit for Victoria, but not for anywhere else."
The decade also saw the Global Financial Crisis.
"We seemed to get out of it relatively unscathed, I don't know what, or who, was responsible for that," he said.
He said conventional Labor wisdom was that it was the policies of Kevin Rudd and Treasurer Wayne Swan, but it would equally be the infrastructure spending of state governments.
"We were starting to ramp up the trade relationship with China, that may have been a really important counterbalance to those global headwinds," he said.
Shock losses
The state election of 2010 saw the Brumby government tossed out of office in a surprise result, only to see Labor return four years later.
Independent Tasmanian political commentator Kevin Bonham said the defeat of the Brumby government came at the same time as the Rudd-Gillard turmoil.
"It was a long-lived state government, with the same party in power, federally, and those things tend to hurt incumbents," Dr Bonham said.
"It was a bit of a surprise, but consistent with historical patterns."
Commentators said the Baillieu-Napthine coalition government fell on the back of the actions of Frankson MP Geoff Shaw, a then-Liberal independent, whose happy knack of attracting headlines caused angst for his former colleagues.
Mr Shaw's actions caused Ted Baillieu to resign, to be replaced by south-west Victorian vet Denis Napthine.
He was to lead the first one-term government to be defeated in Australia in 60 years.
"It had the problem of an avoidable leadership change, and secondly, not being a majority government by the time of the election," Dr Bonham said.
A mix of big infrastructure spending, coupled with a progressive voting base, handed the Labor Party the keys to Spring Street.
Dr Economou said at the last election, Labor exploited the incumbency opportunities and set itself up as a "can-do" administration.
"I think voters like that," he said.
Deakin University Australian political scientist and historian Dr Geoff Robinson said infrastructure spending has been one of the most important issues for Victorians in the last decade.
"The Liberal Party, in their years in power, were not seen by voters to be responding to these pressures," Dr Robinson said.
Regional role
All commentators emphasised the role of Victoria's regional cities, as one of the underlying strengths of the state Labor government.
Dr Economou said Labor tried to bring the regional cities, such as Geelong, Ballarat, Bendigo and the Latrobe Valley, along with it.
"It likes to think it's sensitive to the needs of regional Victoria," he said.
"These places might look like the countryside, but a lot of their residents depend on the Melbourne economy."
Dr Robinson and Dr Bonham agreed.
"The regional centres have been a bit different from other states, they have pretty much moved into the Labor political camp," Dr Robinson said.
He said they were largely "university and public sector-driven centres", reasonably close to Melbourne, and were being pulled into the city's "commuter belt".
Added to that was the rapid population growth to the west of Melbourne.
"The political centre of gravity in Victoria has shifted," Dr Robinson said.
He agreed Victorian voters were progressive, as evidenced by the voluntary assisted dying legislation.
"You have seen Labor benefitting by riding that wave as well," he said.
"Victoria continues to be better for Labor, than anywhere else; it is a bit un-representative of the nation, national security, defence and economic issues are count for less at a state level."
He said he felt Premier Daniel Andrews was "very much" a Melbourne metropolitan politician, compared with Steve Bracks and John Brumby.
"The big provincial centres are so urban in their voting behaviour, it doesn't seem to be doing any damage there," he said.
Nationals role
The role of the National Party in the last decade was also an interesting one, with Dr Economou saying he didn't subscribe to the theory that it was "on the skids".
Dr Economou said it was not surprising that the National Party lost Mildura at the last state election to independent Ali Cupper.
"Mildura has form for this," he said.
The NSW election earlier in the year had returned Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party candidate Helen Dalton to Murray.
That led to predictions of a disaster for the National Party in subsequent elections.
But the Nationals had managed to shift its gender balance, by preselecting successful candidates like Euroa MP Steph Ryan and Lowan MP Emma Kealy.
There was always a delicate power play within the coalition.
"The members will always want more, the frustrations are even greater when you are in opposition, the party looks as though it is totally incompetent," he said.
"I always think one of the problems the Nationals do have is that its membership has a very high expectation of what the party can achieve."
Dr Bonham said it could be frustrating for voters stuck in safe National Party seats, who felt that no one was paying attention.
"That's when you get independent raids on safe National Party seats, every now and then," he said.
Dr Robinson said rural centres would become more volatile, but the National Party had become more pragmatic.
"Compared with the National Party elsewhere, they have established a more moderate, centrist brand," he said.
Dr Economou said another interesting aspect of the decade was the role of the Victorian Legislative Council.
Upper House MPs played a big role in the life of the last state parliament, in the derailing of the CFA legislation.
On Good Friday, 2018, two Liberal Upper House MPs asked to be excused from the chamber for religious reasons, only to reemerge for the contentious vote.
Under parliamentary conventions, two government MPs left so the coalition would not be disadvantaged.
As a result of Liberal MPs Bernie Finn and Craig Ondarchie returning for the vote, the government's controversial fire services bill was defeated.