Victory is within reach, according to both of Victoria's main political parties.
Premier Jacinta Allan and would-be successor Jess Wilson have delivered soft campaign launches before gatherings of their respective faithful in Melbourne.
Attending Labor's state conference, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese also used Saturday's occasion to make an impassioned defence of his beleaguered federal budget agenda.
Ms Allan addressed thousands of cheering party members, confirming plans to fund a new generation of apprentices to meet significant workforce shortages in the next four years.
Standing with her was her father Peter Allan, a former linesman at Victoria's State Electricity Commission (SEC).
The commission was revived by former premier Daniel Andrews in 2023 after it had been privatised by Jeff Kennett's 1990s Liberal government.
Mr Allan lost his job as a result of the commercialisation move.
"The SEC was a skilled job for life - then the Liberals got elected," Ms Allan said.
"Workers (were) cut and it was all smashed in a heartbeat. Kennett didn't respect the lineys and sparkies. He didn't rate them. He saw them as expenses, not people."
Mr Allan was also awarded life membership of the ALP on Saturday.
"This is a pretty good day for us," he said, shedding a tear.
The premier also took aim at opposition promises to make spending cuts worth $40 billion by government calculations.
"I want to be clear. Whatever the challenges Victoria faces, austerity is not the answer," she said.
Mr Albanese also took the stage, describing Melbourne as Labor's "heartland" to a round of cheering.
Taking the opportunity to defend federal Labor's proposed negative gearing changes, he said the reforms were "the right thing to do, not the easy thing" and would help rebalance Australia's housing market.
However, he concluded his spiel with an impassioned endorsement of the premier.
"JA loves this state: from the growing regions she calls home, to the great global city her infrastructure has transformed," he said.
A stone's throw away, at Caulfield Racecourse, federal Opposition Leader Angus Taylor helped alternative premier Jess Wilson open the Liberal Party state council.
"We can win in November. We can save this state from another four years of Labor corruption, Labor debt, Labor recklessness and carelessness, and we must win," Ms Wilson said.
She said she would revive a 2022 election commitment to direct 25 per cent of all new Victorian government infrastructure spending to regional projects if the coalition won.
"We need every single person in this room wholly focused on the campaign. Not spending time in meetings but knocking on doors, letter boxing, talking to voters and everything in between," she said.
Recent polls indicate the coalition holds a slight edge on a two-party-preferred basis as support for One Nation rises.
Ms Wilson also leads Ms Allan as preferred premier.
Overall, though, the opposition has a mountain to climb, needing a net gain of 16 seats to form a majority and end 12 years of Labor rule.
Rank-and-file ALP members were expected to debate motions later on Saturday encouraging MPs to commit to halting the demolition of Melbourne's remaining 44 public housing towers, and handing probationary licences to 17-year-olds.
Liberal members are also slated to debate a possible promise to halt the towers' demolition.
With federal Labor joining international efforts to recognise Palestine as a sovereign state at the United Nations, Labor delegates have also put forward resolutions calling for further action to protect human rights and support peace.
"Members are now asking what practical action comes next," Victorian convenor of Labor Friends of Palestine Oliver van Ingen said.
A draft motion, seen by AAP, calls for the state conference to strongly condemn the US and Israel's wars of aggression against Iran and Lebanon.
