On Sunday afternoon Maree Edwards had a margin of 18 per cent and Jacinta Allan 12 per cent with more than 70 per cent of votes counted in both seats.

Both MPs held their seats by respective margins of 12 and five per cent after the 2014 State Election.

La Trobe University honorary associate in politics Ian Tulloch said the margin of victories meant it would take the Liberals eight years to mount a realistic challenge in both seats, making Labor’s dominance unprecedented in modern political history.

“With the Liberals there's something wrong with their brand. They’ve found it hard to attract young people, young women, particularly when their policy has drifted across to the right as it has. That’s a serious problem they need to address,” he said.

Mr Tulloch said he could not ever envisage Labor losing the seat of Bendigo West, unless a “disaster” occurred.

Read more: 

He suggested it was a “terrible mistake” by the Liberals to run former policeman Ian Ellis against a high-profile cabinet minister in Jacinta Allan.

“They needed someone young who is well recognised, but they haven’t been able to attract those sorts of candidates,” he said.

Liberals candidate for Bendigo West candidate Kevin Finn was “always going to suffer a heavy defeat” after being preselected in October.

The Liberals law and order campaign backfired “miserably”, as most voters had made up their mind before the campaign, Mr Tulloch said, adding the leadership instability at a federal level influenced the state result.

“Scott Morrison (Prime Minister) spent very little time in Victoria before the election. That’s an indication they knew it was going to hurt,” he said.

Discussing his party’s low-key presence in Bendigo this State Election, Liberal party member Ian Reid said “people are generally not interested in politics anymore”.

“You ask people a month ago, and most of them would have no idea when the election was,” he said as the votes were being counted on Saturday.

“People don’t want to know anything about it.”

Mr Reid, who has been associated with the Liberal party for 63 years, admitted his party had struggled to find appropriate candidates to challenge incumbent Labor MPs in both Bendigo seats.

The Liberals announced Kevin Finn as a candidate in October after months of discussions with other individuals.

Mr Reid said the standard of politics had to improve in order to pique the general public’s interest.

“I’m not just talking about specific political parties here, but this is the lowest standard of politics I’ve seen in my time,” he said.

Have you signed up to the Bendigo Advertiser's daily newsletter and breaking news emails? You can register below and make sure you are up to date with everything that's happening in central Victoria.