Nationals benefit while Independent falter in the regions at the state election

On election night, Independent candidate Suzanna Sheed conceded to Nationals candidate and former mayor of the Shepparton City Council Kim O'Keeffe.

The seat of Morwell in Gippsland, formerly held by retiring Independent MP Russell Northe, will once again become represented by a Nationals MP in Martin Cameron.

The seat of Mildura may still not have a clear result for days, but Independent Ali Cupper is could also lose her seat and is behind Jade Benham by 920 votes on preferences with 79 per cent of votes counted as of Tuesday morning.

New Nationals candidate for Euroa in Annabelle Cleeland, has also been elected easily after the retirement of deputy Nationals leader Steph Ryan, which would mean up to nine Nationals - four of the them new MPs - could sit in the lower house.

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The new blood in the party room has prompted Nationals MP for Gippsland South Danny O'Brien to possibly flag breaking up the Coalition after the poor performance of the Liberals.

Mr O'Brien told ABC Radio on Sunday that breaking away should be considered but acknowledged that it "doesn't mean it will happen".

"We need to think about what the best is, not just for us, but for the Liberal Party," he said.

"[The Liberals] are going to go through a fair bit of soul searching in coming days and weeks and months and we have performed very well."

But the Nationals leader Peter Walsh defended the Coalition agreement and said Mr O'Brien had no authority to speak on the matter.

Mr Walsh, who is also Shadow Agriculture Minister, said he wants to continue as leader of the Nationals, but the party room will make its decision this week.

Victorian Farmers Federation president Emma Germano said it was important that successful candidates create policies that focus on bettering the agriculture industry.

"Irrespective of who's in office, we'll continue to call for decision makers that actually prioritise and put our regions first," Ms Germano said.

"Enough is enough and it's time farmers we're given a fair go."

On Sunday Opposition Leader Matthew Guy said he would step down as Liberal leader, with the party to pick a new leader in the upcoming week.

There was some success for the Liberals in regional seats like Benambra which includes Wodonga still being represented by Liberal MP Bill Tilley despite a strong challenge by Independent Jacqui Hawkins.

Ms Hawkins, who was going for her second tilt at the seat and had attracted around 30 pc of the primary vote, up from 16 pc in the 2018 election.

However, Mr Tilley also secured a higher first preference tally of 43 pc compared to 39 pc.

Mr Tilley was delighted with his support, which followed him campaigning with party support to build a new Border hospital.

He said Ms Hawkins had been "misleading" in her claims of what she could achieve on that front and rejected the Independent's view he had "done nothing".

"If you take a drive around the Benambra district you can see significant amounts of work that's being done and these are actual projects that have crossed over my desk or I've participated in the policy development," Mr Tilley said.

As of Monday night, some rural seats were still too close to call, including Ripon in the central west and Bass that includes Philip Island and the Bass Coast communities.

Victoria will have Daniel Andrews as their leader for the next four years, but Labor's regional representation will stick to electorates throughout the central west and surrounding Geelong.

Labor's candidate for Ripon Martha Haylett could potentially pick up the Liberal Louise Staley's seat of Ripon which includes outer areas of Ballarat along with Ararat and Maryborough.

She said "things are looking really good" but is still wanting to see every vote counted.

"I am holding my breath, I don't want to get ahead of myself," she said.

By late Monday, Ms Haylett was only a few hundred votes ahead of Ms Staley in first preferences but was in front by over 1000 votes in the two party preferred count.

In Bass, Labor's Jordan Crugnale remains locked in a close tussle with the Liberal's Aaron Brown, with Ms Crugnale leading only by 225 first preference votes as of Monday.