Daniel Andrews has hailed Labor's convincing Victorian election win a triumph of hope over hate as he eyes a place in the history books.
The Labor leader was greeted with hugs from his mother and sister - as well as chants of "four more years" from the adoring party faithful - after securing a third successive election win on Saturday.
Mr Andrews took to the stage at the party's election night party in his seat of Mulgrave and recalled some words of advice from former Labor prime minister Paul Keating.
"Paul Keating once said to me: 'son, leadership is not about doing what is popular, leadership is about doing what's right'," he told the jubilant crowd while surrounded by his wife and three children.
"Essentially, he was telling me leadership is about doing what matters. That's exactly what the people of this great state have endorsed today in resoundingly re-electing our strong, stable majority Labor government."
Mr Andrews reflected on an incredibly challenging few years for his state, marked by the COVID-19 pandemic.
He commended Victorians for sticking together through the one-in-100-year event and getting vaccinated.
"We were not as some would say divided, we were instead united in our faith in science and in our faith and care for and in each other," the premier said.
"That sense of kindness, that sense of connection, that sense of that we are all in this together has been confirmed today as well. Friends, hope always defeats hate."
After thanking his family, staff and volunteers, Mr Andrews vowed to govern for all Victorians, no matter their views or opinions.
"That's what our job is. We take our responsibility seriously because Labor does what matters," he concluded.
Labor was on track to claim at least 50 seats when counting was suspended for the night.
It is projected to claim the seat of Glen Waverley in Melbourne's east, partially offsetting losses in Nepean to the Liberals and Richmond to the Greens.
Although trailing earlier in the night, Northcote's Labor MP Kat Theophanous leads Greens candidate Campbell Gome by 865 votes with more than 70 per cent of the ballots counted.
Despite losing some skin to the Greens, Labor campaign chair and former deputy premier James Merlino said it was a magnificent victory.
"There's tight contests in those seats in Footscray and Albert Park and Pascoe Vale. I'm hopeful we'll get over the line in those contests," he told reporters.
"Overall this is quite an extraordinary victory for the Labor Party, for Dan as the premier of our state delivering a third term."
Mr Merlino said it was a mistake for the Liberals to turn the election into a referendum on Mr Andrews, one of many across their campaign.
"They made their bed and now the Liberal party have got to sleep in it," he said.
Deputy Premier Jacinta Allan echoed the sentiment, calling out the Liberals for misreading the room on the premier.
"His preferred premier ratings have been particularly strong throughout this campaign," she said told ABC television.
"Now, the Liberal Party chose to put him on their how-to-vote cards. That seems to have backfired."
Mr Andrews is poised to become the state's fifth leader in history to serve 3000 days in office, making him eligible to be immortalised in bronze outside 1 Treasury Place in Melbourne.
If he remains leader until Easter, he'll become the longest-serving Labor premier in Victoria's history, taking the mantle from John Cain Jr.
