The Victorian premier says he is disappointed Holden decided to end manufacturing in Australia before the Productivity Commission considered submissions about the industry's future.
Premier Denis Napthine said on Wednesday it was a sad day for Victoria and would affect a significant number of workers.
The impact will be more significant than the closure of Ford, he said.
"I can assure those workers we will stand shoulder to shoulder with them, we will assure that General Motors looks after their welfare during the period of transition and beyond," Dr Napthine told reporters.
He said the suddenness of the decision meant proper consideration was not given to the state's submission to the Productivity Commission.
"We would have liked all players to give the Productivity Commission the opportunity to assess our submission and other considered submissions and apply their expertise to those submissions so that we could have had a positive way forward for the automotive industry."
Manufacturing Minister David Hodgett received a call from Holden boss Mike Devereux about 1.45pm (AEDT) on Wednesday telling him of the news.
Dr Napthine was immediately asked about Holden in question time and confirmed the news, telling the house an "irrevocable decision" had been made in Detroit to end Australian manufacturing in 2017.
The premier has already spoken to the CEO of Toyota, who acknowledged the company would be facing a great challenge.
"We will as a government work as hard as possible with Toyota and their supply chain to secure their future in this state," Dr Napthine said.
Opposition Leader Daniel Andrews said it was a sad day for thousands of workers in the automotive sector.
"It's a very bad day for our state, the Victorian economy and for these workers and not just those that work at Holden, for tens of thousands of others that work in the auto components sector," Mr Andrews said.
He said it would be more difficult for Toyota to operate as a result of Holden's closure.
"A bad situation has been made worse by the fact that our premier has done nothing," he said.
Mr Andrews said the premier should have contacted the prime minister and developed a package to make representations to the federal government to save Holden.
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