Blue signs will once again populate outside a battleground seat early voting centre after the Liberal Party won a last-minute court order preventing the local council from limiting it to one per candidate.
Dozens of the party's A-frame signs were removed from outside an early voting centre at Kew in the inner-east Melbourne electorate of Kooyong on Wednesday, three days out from the poll.
Liberal candidate Amelia Hamer was earlier directed to comply with a local council rule that limits candidates to just one sign each on public land.
The City of Boroondara argued the signs were a risk to pedestrians and road users.
Supreme Court Justice Kerri Judd on Thursday ruled in favour of the party's injunction, brought by State Director Stuart Smith, that restrains the council from removing Ms Hamer's signs outside the voting centre.
"I am satisfied the plaintiff would suffer greater damage if an injunction were refused and his claim were ultimately upheld," she said in her ruling.
For each breach, the council can issue daily fines of $500 per sign.
Ms Hamer's main rival for the seat, teal independent MP Monique Ryan, and all other candidates abided by the one-sign requirement.
But Mr Smith made good on a threat to take the council to the Victorian Supreme Court on Thursday, challenging the permit rule on the grounds it might contradict the implied constitutional freedom of political communication.
The signage reprieve will only be in effect on Friday as the centre is not in use on election day on Saturday.
In his affidavit, Mr Smith said he had worked on every election campaign since 2001 either as a volunteer or party employee.
"He's never seen anything like it," his barrister Dean Luxton said.
The state director suggested signs outside polling booths were crucial for candidate recognition, helping voters relate a face to their name on the ballot paper and communicating policies.
Mr Luxton said the council notified identified candidates for the Kooyong election of the sign rule in April, but other candidates for neighbouring lower-house seats and the Victorian senate were not informed.
"The permit system ... it's effectively arbitrary and it's going to affect some political parties more than others, particularly where a party has more candidates, more policies that they want to promote," he said.
Without the injunction, Justice Judd said only one framed sign would be permitted at an early voting centre that served four different electorates and five Senate candidates for the Liberal Party.
The confiscated signs were returned on Thursday morning but the judge was asked to rule on an injunction.
Mr Luxton said the implied freedom of political communication was indispensable to the system of representative government, and pedestrian safety and accessibility could be put right through an undertaking from Mr Smith.
"I'm satisfied concerns over safety and accessibility are alleviated by the undertaking of Mr Smith ... to supply signs safely and according to instructions from the council," Justice Judd said.
Boroondara's barrister Emrys Nekvapil SC argued an injunction would effectively grant Mr Smith "final relief", allowing the Liberals to display multiple signs in the final days of pre-polling.
But Mr Luxton insisted a final ruling would be relevant to future elections in the area.
