Matthew Guy has conceded defeat and offered his congratulations to Premier Daniel Andrews on Labor's overwhelming victory in the Victorian state election.
Mr Guy, with his wife Renae by his side, called for unity in the party as it faces another four years in opposition and demands for an overhaul of the party.
"Can I say for the next parliament, as a party, we need to stick together. We need to stay united and we need to stay focused on our opponents and the game ahead, not on ourselves," he said.
Mr Guy acknowledged a lot of MPs had lost their seats, but held out hope not all of them would be lost once all votes are counted.
Liberal party Matthew Guy urged the party to remain unified. Source: AAP
He also thanked his staff, candidates, campaign volunteers and his family. And he thanked for Liberal voters for keeping the faith.
"Every day in opposition is a day closer to government and while tonight is not our night, we know that, we acknowledge that, we accept that, our time in the sun will come again."
However, he gave no indication of his future. Earlier on Saturday he said he would wait before making a decision on whether to continue as leader until later.
Before making his concession speech, he rang Mr Andrews to personally congratulate him.
"It is fair and the right thing for us to do to acknowledge his success, his party and his team's success and the strength of their campaign and tonight I do that."
Jeff Kennett calls for Michael Kroger's resignation
Recriminations soon followed the results, with former Victorian premier Jeff Kennett calling for state Liberal president Michael Kroger to resign.
"Michael, if you’re listening, it’s 8.20pm - by midnight, I hope your resignation is on the floor," Mr Kennett said on Channel Seven.
"I think his recent leadership of the party has been appalling. And his decision to fight the foundation that has supported the party for years was untenable. It was very distracting for Mathew and cost us a lot of money unnecessarily."
Michael Kroger said he took some personal responsibility for the result.
Liberal candidate for Eltham Nick McGowan and Victorian Opposition Leader Matthew Guy at the Cherborne Primary School voting centre. Source: AAP
"Jeff regularly calls on me and others to resign. I wish him well," he told Sky News.
"Of course, it is collective responsibility [for the election result]. To pick on one person to go, that's a nonsense. So we take Jeffery's comments with a grain of salt."
He blamed what he called "Labor's spending spree" for what made the difference, but said the harm from the ousting of Malcolm Turnbull as prime minister by his federal Liberal colleagues did damage.
"The way in which it was done was very disorderly and it has obviously affected the Labor party brand. Everyone is affected.
"There hasn't been a majority government chucked out of parliament in second term. That has not happened in 100 years.
"Labor's spending sprees and they have done tangible things for people to see and that has made the difference."
Federal election implications
Michael Kroger said the Liberal message is very relevant as the nation heads towards a federal election.
"The lesson is that there is a role for Liberal party's message on handing debt. We will never outspend Labor."
"The debate about debt and deficit has been lost or either or not discussed.
"We haven't had a recession since 1981...There is largesse in government spending, [but] large amounts of public expenditure is ultimately bad because there will come a day when its unsustainable."
Liberal member for Kew Tim Smith also blamed federal Liberal disunity for hurting the party's chances.
"When you've got federal politicians talking about themselves and their various ambitions that hasn't helped our party like it didn't help Labor during the Rudd-Gillard years and that's damage that we at the state level have to deal with," he said.
