The Liberal candidate for Canning says he's faced far worse than a leadership spill in the final days of a by-election campaign and remains the man to represent the electorate.
Malcolm Turnbull's defeat of Prime Minister Tony Abbott on Monday comes five days before the former SAS captain faces the polls against lawyer and Labor candidate Matt Keogh, with polls suggesting it will be a tight contest in favour of Mr Hastie.
Mr Turnbull, who stepped down from cabinet after announcing the challenge, said he recognised the timing was far from ideal, "but regrettably there are few occasions that are entirely ideal for tough calls".
"From a practical point of view, a change of leadership would improve our prospects in Canning, although I'm very confident with the outstanding candidate we have that we will be successful," Mr Turnbull said.
Commenting on the spill before the vote was held, Mr Hastie said he had experienced "much worse" in his previous career, adding: "In fact, I'm going up a gear now for the people of Canning."
"This by-election is not about political games, it's about the people of Canning, and they're losing their faith in the political class," he said.
"This morning when I was asked do I support the PM, I said 'I do. I support the prime minister'.
"Throughout this campaign, I have enjoyed the support of Tony Abbott, Malcolm Turnbull, Julie Bishop, Mathias Cormann, Michael Keenan, Bruce Billson and my good friend David Johnston.
"I stand before you as a candidate who enjoys the support of the Liberal Party."
Professor John Phillimore of the John Curtin Institute of Public Policy said the challenge was not a good look for the party and the last thing Mr Hastie needed.
"Everyone would agree he was doing pretty well as the local candidate, trying to make it a local issues campaign, and having campaigned with his prime minister for the past three weeks," Prof Phillimore told AAP.
"To have this come around, it makes it very hard for him.
"Either way, it's a pretty disastrous turn of events."
A News Corp Galaxy poll and a Fairfax/Ipsos poll on Saturday predicted a 10 per cent swing, two-party preferred, against the government.
