Under fire Christine Nixon has hinted some of the enemies she made when she was Victoria's police chief might be behind a campaign to have her sacked as head of the state's bushfire reconstruction.
Ms Nixon has faced relentless criticism for the past week after she revealed she left the control centre on the evening of Black Saturday to have dinner at a pub with friends.
Nixon late yesterday conceded that she even got her hair cut on one of th days in question.
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But she was defiant.
"I think having been police commissioner I know that what I have is a range of enemies," she told reporters on Friday night.
"They are corrupt police officers on occasions, there are a range."
She has been accused of misleading the bushfires royal commission, of leaving her post and of eating out during the fires in which 173 people died as the state burned on February 7 last year.
And Australia's biggest-selling newspaper the Herald Sun has demanded she stand down as head of the Victorian Bushfire Reconstruction and Recovery Authority.
She suggested some of those enemies might still be out to get her.
"Whether any of this is related to my previous history ... perhaps some of it is," she said.
"I think as a woman I've always been judged perhaps more harshly than some others, but I've understood that and it's not about whether people judge you it's about how you do your job and what you achieve."
Nixon was well liked by many public and police during her tenure, but also hated by a hard core of the force's old guard.
That culminated in a public battle with former police union boss Paul Mullett and former assistant commissioner Noel Ashby.
Criminal cases in which they faced corruption charges both collapsed.
Mr Mullet's successor as Police Association boss Greg Davies last week said Ms Nixon had abandoned her responsibilities and had demeaned the office of chief commissioner.
The Herald Sun ran a front page on Thursday with the headline "10 reasons why we say Christine Nixon must be sacked".
However, she still has her supporters, with passing Melbourne CBD office workers telling the media pack on Friday night to leave her alone.
Federal Victorian Labor backbencher Steve Gibbons also offered his colourful support for Ms Nixon on his Twitter account on Friday night.
"Nixon hasn't resigned. Now you F...wits in the media must realise that you don't set or control the agenda. Despite your bullshit!" the member for Bendigo said.
