Senior Liberals are rallying behind under-pressure Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, days out from an expected 30th consecutive Newspoll loss under his leadership.
Mr Turnbull cited former leader Tony Abbott's 30 consecutive Newspoll losses when he snatched the top job from him in a spill in September 2015, and is now facing the same test as his predecessor.
Cabinet minister Christopher Pyne has downplayed the milestone, insisting no one in the community cares about Monday's poll.
Mr Pyne repeatedly backed the prime minister on Nine Network on Friday, dismissing suggestions his leadership was under threat.
"Sure there might be a bad Newspoll on Monday, nobody cares," he said.
"We have a prime minister who will stay the prime minister and lead us to the next election and win."
The minister said his colleague Peter Dutton wasn't running to replace Mr Turnbull and dismissed as "rubbish" suggestions the coalition would be better off if he did.
Mr Turnbull is urging coalition MPs to look beyond Monday's result and focus on the coalition's economic successes.
"The strongest jobs growth in the nation's history surely is a demonstration that our economic policies are working and the confidence, the support for investment, the support for employment which we are delivering is paying results," he told the Australian Financial Review.
Mr Turnbull said when he ran to lead of the Liberal party in 2015 he pledged to deliver economic leadership and a traditional cabinet government.
"Economic leadership, we have demonstrated that, I think, very, very convincingly," he said.
Colleagues are calling for calm in anticipation of renewed leadership questions, with former prime minister John Howard urging MP to bury their differences.
"I don't find any evidence in the party that people want a change of leader," he told ABC TV.
Meanwhile, Finance Minister Mathias Cormann reflected on how in 2001, Mr Howard's coalition was behind Labor, at 43 points to 57.
"The Labor party - in opposition then as Bill Shorten and his colleagues are doing now - were already measuring the curtains in The Lodge and checking out what carpets they might want to lay down," he told Sky News.
"The record shows that John Howard won the election later that year."
However, pressure is building on Mr Turnbull with a cohort of MPs including Mr Abbott combining to form the so-called Monash Forum to push for coal-fired power to remain on the coalition agenda.
When the Newspoll emerges on Monday, Mr Abbott will be riding through Victoria's Latrobe Valley, home to the closed Hazelwood station.
Share
