Liberal MP Melanie Gibbons's political career appeared to have been saved, but a factional deal is set to squash her political hopes.
On Thursday morning, it looked like a deal had been brokered between party factions to have her name placed on the upper house ticket.
It would have come after she lost a preselection challenge to recontest her long-held seat of Holsworthy.
Ms Gibbons lost to Tina Ayyad last month after representing the south-west Sydney area for the past 12 years.
Ms Ayyad, the wife of Liverpool Mayor Ned Mannoun, won preselection 24 votes to 12 and is now preparing to contest the marginal seat next year.
The Liberal upper house ticket is yet to officially be finalised, but the ABC understands three different Liberal women will be preselected ahead of the state election to ensure gender parity.
The ticket was set to have only male candidates until New South Wales Premier Dominic Perrottet intervened but failed to get the Holsworthy MP a spot.
Sources have told the ABC, sitting upper house MP Natasha Maclaren-Jones, Liberal state executive member Susan Carter and former school teacher Jean Haynes will be the female candidates on the upper house ticket.
The new ticket is set to be endorsed by the party's state executive on Thursday night.
It is a bitter blow for Ms Gibbons who last year announced she was quitting state politics to run for the federal seat of Hughes after being encouraged to do so by former prime minister Scott Morrison.
The move to Canberra never eventuated after Mr Perrottet convinced her to stay with the promise of a position in state cabinet.
It appears that promise will not be fulfilled despite the Premier's push for Ms Gibbons to get a spot on the upper house ticket.
Ms Gibbons has served in NSW parliament since 2011.
She became the first member for Holsworthy in 2015 after changes to the electoral boundaries.
The factional agreement to endorse three women is being hailed as a win for gender representation in the party as it continues to face challenges in bolstering the number of women in its ranks.
Senior Liberals have been publicly pushing for party members to preselect more women.
Last month Roads Minister Natalie Ward attempted to make the switch from the upper house to the lower house but failed to win preselection in the Davidson electorate.
The government's most senior female minister lost to former premier Mike Baird's staffer, Matt Cross, 85 votes to 95.
That prompted Treasurer Matt Kean to launch a blindside at the party, accusing it of "not reflecting the community".
Currently, there are three Liberal women in cabinet, while only 10 out of the 33 Liberals in the lower house are female.
Ms Gibbons and the NSW Liberal Party were contacted for comment.
