Victorian election: gap between big parties narrows

The Resolve Strategic poll published in The Age on Tuesday signals the government led by Premier Daniel Andrews could lose between eight and 12 seats in Saturday's vote.

On the primary vote measure, the coalition has drawn level with Labor with 36 per cent apiece.

On a two-party preferred basis, Labor is ahead on 53 per cent compared to 47 per cent for Matthew Guy's opposition.

While the measures show the coalition has closed or narrowed the gap with Labor, Mr Andrews could still be returned as premier albeit with a reduced majority or even as the leader of a minority government.

In the last few days tensions have been rife between the major parties, with both attacking each other over the political views or stances of certain candidates.

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Mr Guy on Monday pleaded with Victorian voters to back his "safe" and "centrist" party, after he had to distance himself from Liberal candidates labelled as "extremists".

The Liberal leader pointed to party policies to fix the health system, tackle cost of living pressures and giving Victorians a "fresh start".

"They're not extreme policies. They're mainstream policies," Mr Guy said on Monday.

Meanwhile, Deputy Liberal Leader David Southwick demanded Mr Andrews apologise for using the term Nazi when describing some of the candidates running for parliament.

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Mr Andrews doubled down, saying the Liberal Party was preferencing extremists and should itself apologise.

"It should be a contest of ideas, not a contest of competing calls for violent acts," he said.

On Monday, federal Labor MP Josh Burns singled out independent candidate Tylere Baker-Pearce, who's running in the seat of Narre Warren South, and has published multiple photos and memes to social media pages seemingly promoting antisemitic sentiments.

Labor has preferenced the Liberals' Annette Samuel fourth ahead of Mr Baker-Pearce, while Labor's Gary Maas has been listed eighth by his opponent behind the independent in the fifth spot.

Mr Guy on the weekend distanced himself from Liberal Party upper house candidate Renee Heath, who has connections to the controversial City Builders Church, saying she would not be allowed to sit in the party room if she was elected.

Ms Heath has since said she has engaged lawyers to assess whether she has grounds to make a complaint to the Australian Human Rights Commission.

She has denied supporting gay conversion therapy, which is backed by the church, and said suggesting otherwise was "completely false and misleading".

Meanwhile, the Victorian Electoral Commission on Monday told voters in the Narracan electorate they still needed to cast their ballots for the upper house after the death of a National Party candidate who was accused of rape.

Shaun David Gilchrist, 47, the candidate for the regional seat, died unexpectedly at Rawson on Sunday six days out from the state election.

He was due to appear in the County Court on November 30 on sexual offence charges and a trial date was set for June 2023, AAP has confirmed.

A new date for a supplementary election will be announced in the future.

The Resolve polls of 1000 voters was conducted from Wednesday to Sunday.

Australian Associated Press