Ms Purcell, who had been involved in the last three weeks of campaigning for the party, said in a public Facebook post on Sunday, the “refusal to delegate” and “complete lack of strategic thinking” were glaringly obvious problems she observed.

“A ‘senior leadership team’ (of seven men) with egos as big as houses but some of them have not necessarily the brains to match. A focus on being too tricky and just not hard working enough, whilst others were treated dismissively and disrespectfully,” her post read.

She referenced the Frankston Cafe visit – where Matthew Guy and Liberal candidate Michael Lamb unwittingly visited a convicted cannabis cultivator to talk about rising energy prices – as an example of the campaign leaders’ “inability to make a decision”.

Read more: Purcell Libs’ candidate for Bendigo

“I don't usually publicly comment on internal party matters but recently it's been so exasperating,” she added.

Ms Purcell was defeated by Labor’s Lisa Chesters in the 2016 Federal Election.

Her comments come as senior Liberal figures try to figure out what went wrong for the party. 

On Sunday evening, Labor had won 52 seats to the Liberals’ 24, with almost three-quarters of votes counted.

State president Michael Kroger on Sunday again defended his position, noting the loss had "nothing to do with head office".

Former Victorian premier Jeff Kennett had spectacularly called for his resignation on election night live television.

Mr Kroger insisted the party "is overwhelmingly sticking together" but added it would be "silly to deny" that Canberra didn't play a part in the loss.

Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt called for the party to unify and avoid fighting between the state division and the state parties.

- With Australian Associated Press

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