The Liberal National Party candidate for Kevin Rudd's old seat is still refusing to concede defeat but admits Labor is likely to hold it.
Bill Glasson says he will wait for 10,000 postal votes to be counted before formally conceding he has lost the weekend by-election in the Brisbane-based seat of Griffith to Labor's Terri Butler.
The former president of the Australian Medical Association says he owes it to the electorate to wait.
Dr Glasson says he achieved two of his three goals heading into the by-election: to hang onto the vote he won at last year's general election, and to extend that vote.
"We did that. My third, which was to win it, we didn't succeed on," he told ABC radio on Monday.
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He said he was unlikely to have another go at a political career.
"My political spurs are now hung up," he said.
Dr Glasson said he admired Ms Butler for taking on a political career when she had a young family.
Ms Butler has a lead of 52.28 per cent on a two-party preferred basis, with a swing of 0.73 per cent towards Dr Glasson.
He said he didn't know how much money the LNP threw at the by-election.
