Both Labor and the Coalition recognise the state as a key battleground with both parties setting up their campaign headquarters in Melbourne.
At the last election in 2010, the Coalition performed poorly in Victoria with Labor managing to secure 55 per cent of the two-party preferred vote on a statewide basis.
It's been pouring resources into the state, hoping it can reverse Labor's gains, and one political analyst is predicting the Coalition will do just that.
Greg Dyett reports.
In 2010, Julia Gillard had wrested the Prime Ministership from Kevin Rudd who was widely blamed for undermining Labor's election campaign with a series of damaging leaks.
The end result says political analyst Nick Economou was mixed for the ALP.
"Julia Gillard's leadership was bad for Labor's vote in 2010 in Queensland, Western Australia and New South Wales but it didn't hurt in South Australia, Tasmania and Victoria. In Victoria, Labor got 55 per cent of the two party preferred vote statewide in 2010, now there's no way they're going to get that again, I think at best Labor would hope for 50-50 or maybe 51 to 49 split, that would represent a swing against Labor of about 3 per cent, 3 to 4 per cent and that would probably account for at least three seats, Corangamite, Deakin and La Trobe with the seat of Chisolm being vulnerable so Labor I think it looking at losing seats in Victoria."
Corangamite, Deakin and La Trobe are held by Labor members by slim margins and the Liberal Party has them in its sights.
But perhaps the most interesting battleground will be the contest for the seat of Melbourne held by the Green's deputy leader Adam Bandt.
Liberal preferences helped Adam Bandt to secure Melbourne at the 2010 poll and the Liberal Party is determined not to see its preferences flow to him this time round.
Doctor Nick Economou from Monash University says a possible preference deal between the Liberals and Labor in another seat could prove politically fatal for Adam Bandt.
"The outcome in Melbourne could in fact be influenced by a seat that's completely different and miles away from it, that's the seat of Mallee out in the far north west of Victoria where there was a sitting National party MP John Forrest, he has retired, the seat is now open to a contest between the Liberals and the Nationals. The Liberals have put up a candidate and the word is they are talking with the Labor party and talking about a preference deal. In exchange for getting Labor preferences the liberals would direct preferences to Labor in Melbourne and in my view if the Liberals did that Labor's Cath Bowtell would win the seat."
One recent opinion poll suggested Adam Bandt could win the seat outright helped in part by anger in the electorate over Labor's approach to asylum seekers and its plans to settle boat arrivals on either Manus Island or Nauru.
As deputy leader of the Greens, Adam Bandt has been a consistent advocate of his party's desire to see asylum seekers processed onshore such as in September last year when he argued against the re-opening of the processing centre on Nauru.
Mr Bandt told parliament Australia should be resurrecting the approach taken by former prime minister Malcolm Fraser after the Vietnam War and not re-visiting John Howard's Pacific Solution.
"Our country is better for the fact that we took in between 90 and 100 thousand refugees and their families in an orderly manner at the end of the war and settled them here through a regional processing arrangement. Now it wasn't easy and at the start of that process there was a lot of consternation about whether people were being treated fairly but it stopped people risking their lives on boats."
Nick Economou says Labor's change of position on offshore processing will help the Greens to secure more votes in seats like Melbourne.
"Clearly the Labor party has changed its position in response to what it perceives to be the perspective of voters in marginal seats and this is, of course, assisting parties like the Greens because those in the inner city seats that are angered by what Labor are doing and don't support the Coalition's approach have an alternative and they vote, they vote with the Greens. The difficulty for Green voters in that circumstance is that they have to make a decision whether they prefer Labor or the Coalition when they have to cast their second preference."
The ALP candidate for Melbourne, Cath Bowtell, has been trying to distance herself from Labor's policy change, telling the ABC there are no easy solutions when it comes to trying to prevent people dying on asylum boats.
"I think that it is very clear that everybody now understands that this is not an issue where there is a very simple stop the boats on one side nor is there a very simple let everybody come on the other side. We have to do a couple of things. First of all we have to say to people stay where you are we're coming to get you, we have increased the number of places from 13 thousand to 20, we've said we may go to 27, I hope that we can go further. Second we have to say, stay where you are we are going to work in the region to make those places, places of safe settlement. That is agreed I think now by all humanitarian agencies. The third thing is do we need to say something more, don't come because if you do it won't be to your advantage."
There's another seat Nick Economou says is worth watching: that's Melbourne Ports, held by Labor's Michael Danby with a margin of 7.9 per cent.
Like the seat of Melbourne, the Green vote is strong and it's a seat the Liberals appear to be strongly targeting.
Former Labor MP Maxine McKew told the ABC the Liberals are highly visible in Melbourne Ports.
"I have never seen the Liberals so active in this seat, this is what locals tell me, I'm a newcomer to Melbourne but the Liberal presence in this seat is extraordinary."
At the 2010 election, the Liberal candidate Kevin Ekendahl only trailed Michael Danby by 334 first preference votes.
Mr Ekendahl is running for the Liberals again and Nick Economou says Green preferences will again be a decisive factor.
"My feeling is (Michael) Danby will hang on there and he will hang on as a result, interestingly enough, probably of Green preferences flowing through to him. Melbourne Ports is one of those electorates where the Greens perform very, very strongly and Green voters tend to give Labor their second preference so I suspect that Danby could hang on to Melbourne Ports, it will be an interesting one, it's just one of those fascinating seats that's under pressure not only from demographic change but also from tinkering at the edges when the boundaries get changed by the electoral commission so I'm not sure how much longer he can hang on to that seat but I suspect he'll be returned in this election, Michael Danby for Labor."
