State elections are normally fought over hospitals and schools.
Four years ago, Peter Deng felt the election was about him.
"It kind of took a toll on me a little bit," he says.
"Because I believe in our community as positive.
"For us, it was a major thing because it was in the news, and it was everywhere."
In 2018, the Victorian Liberal Party unleashed a tough-on-crime campaign to try and win that year's poll, arguing increases in robberies, aggravated burglaries and assaults had occurred under the Andrews government's watch.
Headlines focused on the threat of so-called 'African gangs' and it's left an enduring mark – on the community it tarnished and the Liberal Party trying to win majority support so it can form government.
"Most of us didn't vote for them," Mr Deng says.
"I'm never going to vote for them."
Memories linger of community events being shut down
At a day-long African basketball tournament in Sunshine, in Melbourne's west, Navera Ari is happy to be watching her friends compete.
Four years ago, a similar event for South Sudanese basketballers was cancelled after organisers struggled to find a venue willing to host them.
At the time it felt "pretty sucky" to not be able to see friends, but Ms Ari says the pain was broader.
"A part of human nature is wanting to belong to a tribe or community," she says.
"Not being able to then gather with that community that you found so much trust and so much sense of self within — it's kind of shattering."
African communities in Victoria continue to grow, with most living in Melbourne's northern and western suburbs and some in regional areas.
There is great diversity within communities, and like other waves of recent migrants there are large populations of small-business owners.
Many enjoy large families and have religion at the centre of their lives as members of conservative-leaning Christian churches and Muslim mosques.
These attributes would traditionally see members of the communities align with the Liberal Party, but the 2018 election campaign changed that.
Four years later, is there any scope for the Liberal Party to repair their relationship?
'The majority being judged on the minority'
There was a driving fear threaded through the last election campaign, dominating tabloid front pages and talkback radio.
"We just need to call it for what it is — of course it's African gang violence," now-federal Opposition Leader Peter Dutton said in the lead-up to the 2018 poll. He claimed people were "scared to go out to restaurants" because they were being followed home by gangs.
Opposition Leader Matthew Guy accused the Labor government of "standing by and allowing Melbourne to become the Johannesburg of the South Pacific".
While much of the African community rejected what it saw as a broad slur, many also voiced concern about the small number of young people who were involved in crime and urged governments to address the underlying causes by investing in jobs and education.
Akech Aliir remains unhappy about what he calls the media's unfair representation of African communities – then and now.
"It's the majority being judged on the minority," he says.
"It's not fair, but it's also true – to an extent. There are kids out there committing crime. It's true, but it's not everyone."
The effect has been wide and deep – he says the entire community feels under more scrutiny, just going about their everyday lives.
"It's not fair to think it's everyone," he says.
"If you see a black kid at a train station, and just assume that he's trouble? That's not fair."
Election scare campaign 'a real low in Australian politics'
The 2018 campaign appalled Ian Smith, a powerful business lobbyist who also advised former Liberal premier Jeff Kennett.
"I think was a real low in Australian politics," he says.
"The use of fear, and particularly marginalising a small part of the community in African-Australians was something that I hope we never see again."
Mr Smith sees it as a response to the "Trumpian" politics of the time, when right-wing parties were making big gains in Europe using the spectre of crime and lawlessness among migrant populations.
A Liberal Party flyer depicting hooded youths and warning against gangs in the suburbs was handed out in Melbourne's south-east, in a move criticised for drumming up racist fear.
"The Liberals got it completely wrong at the last election in using the language that they did, and that in itself is wrong at any time, but to think it was a vote winner was wrong," Mr Smith says.
The party agrees. An internal review after the 2018 election – where the Liberal Party lost 10 of its 37 seats – concluded "the focus on African gangs became a distraction for some key voters who saw it as a political tactic rather than an authentic problem".
Now, it's a different time.
Instead of looking back to a "dark period", Mr Smith wants politicians to embrace the power of hope.
"We must use that to move forward," he says.
"We must use that to provide and create opportunity for new arrivals from any part of the world."
Matthew Guy says Liberal Party has changed
Matthew Guy doesn't resile from the tone or substance of the last campaign.
Since he won back the role of opposition leader late last year, he has denied that crimes committed by members of African communities had been a focus of the 2018 campaign.
"Well, there wasn't any 2018 campaign against them," he tells the ABC this week.
"What I'd say is that I want them, just like every other Victorian, to feel positive about their state and feel positive that a change in government would be very good for them and their communities and their families."
Mr Guy is a former minister for multicultural affairs and half his family is from a non-English speaking background – the Ukrainian community.
He's satisfied that his party is one that represents all Victorians.
"Look, we've got more candidates with the last name Singh than Smith. The Liberal Party in Victoria has changed. We are a multicultural political party and we're not turning back," he says.
Mr Guy says he's put in long hours engaging with a diverse range of Victorians.
"So criticisms of me in any multicultural communities is really quite hard to take, given the amount of work I've done with so many communities, including the African communities, from politicians who probably never ever set foot inside one of their community centres," he says.
The Liberal Party is running Nigerian-born Emete Joesika as its candidate in the inner-city electorate of Footscray, a safe Labor seat.
Mr Joesika did not respond to requests to talk to the ABC.
Hard road for Liberals to win back 'lost trust'
There's a lot of work to do to repair the damage and to woo potential voters in African communities for this and future elections.
"It's hard, once you've lost trust, to bring it back," says Berhan Ahmed, enjoying a cup of tea and greeting passing friends on the main street in Footscray.
The chief executive of not-for-profit community organisation Africause and an adjunct professor at the University of Melbourne and Victoria University, Dr Ahmed accepts that much has changed. But he wants to see more.
"Trust comes with action," he says.
"It will not take rocket science to be close to us, and to work with us, because there is a lot of common values of humanity.
"Our relationship and friendship will flourish."
What he can't forget is that Mr Guy's "aggressive campaign" had a substantial influence, well beyond the ballot box.
"The impact with us, with our children, remains forever," he says, gesturing at a group of young men walking past.
"They are paying for it."
Back at the basketball tournament, Esiai Majur wears the cost.
"It affects us all, as perception changes and shifts," he says.
"Everywhere I go, they think the Africans are bad. I go to the store and everyone's looking at you."
He wants the Australian community to move past the furore of four years ago.
"I hope the perception changes on African youths, and Africa as a whole," he says.
"We're good people who bring good energy to Australia".
