The internal detractors seeking to evict Victorian Liberal Leader John Pesutto have failed, but the disunity in the party is far from over.
Rebel Liberal MPs were working the phones last week to garner support for a motion to spill the leadership team at a partyroom meeting on Tuesday.
It came amid Mr Pesutto's defamation trial with ousted first-term MP Moira Deeming pitting party colleagues against one another and airing internal dirty laundry in open court.
Emerging from Tuesday's meeting, Mr Pesutto confirmed no spill motion was put to the room after the group was unable to agree on a replacement candidate.
"I don't know what that was all about, to be honest," he told reporters.
"But everybody's focused on the job ahead.
"We've got a government that is not leading our state well."
Mr Pesutto declined to discuss internal party-room matters but the defamation trial was briefly raised.
Opposition upper house leader Georgie Crozier said "not one" Liberal MP raised any concerns and the party was putting the issue behind it.
Benambra MP Bill Tilley said the 45-minute meeting, the first since the trial began, was as "boring as bats***".
Mr Pesutto wouldn't be drawn on whether Tuesday's meeting would be the end of months of speculation about his leadership.
"Opposition is a long journey and we are focused on the work ahead," he said.
Closing submissions for his high-stakes trial are scheduled to be heard over three days from October 22, with a verdict expected to be handed down before the end of 2024.
Agitators are likely to wait for the outcome, before determining their next move.
Despite the push petering out for now, Premier Jacinta Allan sought to capitalise on it and the trial following Mr Pesutto spending several days on the stand.
"Good of you to squeeze us in between court time," she quipped during question time.
Earlier, Mr Pesutto was flanked by Ms Crozier, deputy leader David Southwick, deputy upper house leader Evan Mulholland and South-West Coast MP Roma Britnell as he entered the much-hyped meeting.
Former treasurer Kim Wells, who confirmed he was considering his options after being approached to run by several colleagues, arrived with Polwarth MP Richard Riordan.
"People were very kind," he said.
Berwick MP Brad Battin, who lost to Mr Pesutto by one vote in a leadership contest after the 2022 election, arrived for the meeting alone.
Mornington MP Chris Crewther, whose name was raised as another possible contender, would not be drawn on whether he had ambitions to be leader.
He also walked into the room alone, as did Brighton MP James Newbury.
Another MP touted as a future leader, former tennis star turned Nepean MP Sam Groth, told journalists they were "wasting their time".
One Liberal MP, speaking to AAP on condition of anonymity, branded the coup push as "hare-brained" and "extreme", given recent polling showing the Liberals had overtaken Labor on two-party preferred for the first time since June 2017.
Another senior Liberal MP described detractors as an embarrassing "rabble" and said the move died because they didn't have the numbers.
"If the best they've got is Kim Wells and Chris Crewther, God help us," they said.
