Party strategists from both sides admit that few Victorian seats are set to change hands, but the most at risk appear to be embattled MP David Feeney's inner-city electorate of Batman (which is under threat from the Greens) and the eastern suburban seat of Chisholm (vacated by former speaker Anna Burke).

Labor's chances of winning back the regional Corangamite have been dented by Premier Daniel Andrews' botched handling of the CFA pay dispute and have also given hope to the Liberals of an upset victory in McEwen or even Bendigo.

In a bid to claw back some ground, Mr Andrews and wife Cath have been personally involved in a number of campaigns in key marginal seats.

Mrs Andrews has been making phone calls in Bruce for Labor's Julian Hill, while the premier has also lent his voice to robocalls​ in a number of electorates, including Mr Feeney's.

In a sign of just how volatile Batman has become for Labor, the robocalls emerge after Mr Andrews wrote to voters in the inner-northern seat, urging them to stick with the ALP.

"Victoria is the progressive capital, the education state and the renewable energy powerhouse. But there's so much more we need to do," a letter from Premier "Dan" Andrews to Batman voters says.

After a marathon eight-week campaign, conventional wisdom suggests that tomorrow's election will be won or lost in key battlegrounds across western Sydney and Queensland, with Victoria widely seen as fairly safe territory for Labor, which currently holds 19 out of 37 seats across the state.

The Premier's letter to federal voters in Batman. Photo: Supplied

However, any major losses for Mr Shorten are likely to spark widespread recriminations, with some MPs already turning on Mr Andrews for escalating the CFA dispute in the middle of the campaign.

"We need to pick up 20 seats and if you can't pick up any in your own home turf – Labor heartland – then that's a problem, isn't it?" said one insider.

But state operatives point out that the CFA issue has not been biting as much as some have suggested and that the election was never going to be won or lost in the state.

"In 23 years we have won the majority once, in 2007, and that's because we are constantly underperforming in Queensland and NSW," another senior figure said.

Mr Andrews' role in the election has been scaled back in recent months as the stoush over Country Fire Authority intensified. When the election was called eight weeks ago, party insiders insisted that the socially progressive premier would be Mr Shorten's "secret weapon" in Victoria, where at least four Liberal marginal seats – Deakin, Corangamite, Latrobe and Dunkley – were seen as up for grabs.

But in recent weeks – following the sacking of the CFA board and the resignation of state emergency services minister Jane Garrett, CFA chief executive Lucinda Nolan and fire officer Joe Buffone​ on Thursday – Mr Shorten has spent limited time campaigning in Victoria, where the Coalition has used the issue to ramp up claims that Labor is beholden to the unions.

Speaking on ABC radio yesterday, Mr Shorten said it was "incredibly disappointing" how long the EBA dispute has dragged, but played down the impact it would have on federal Victorian seats.

He insisted the stoush was a state issue and would be "resolved at the state level", but refused to discuss the details of a meeting with United Firefighters Union boss Peter Marshall a few weeks before Mr Andrews sidelined Ms Garrett and intervened in the matter while she was on leave.

Most Coalition figures are expecting the status quo to be returned on Saturday night, with the party's chance of seizing a seat in Chisholm where Labor incumbent Anna Burke is retiring.

The "middle-class marginal" is ripe for the Liberal picking with just a 1.6 per cent margin for Labor and Mr Turnbull's centrist credentials likely to resonate well with voters.

Labor has examined 2014 state election votes across their federal seats and has most concern for its chances in Chisholm – which shows Labor only at 49 per cent – as well as in Corangamite. However, it found healthy margins in McEwen and Bendigo.

Labor sources say the trend over the election has pointed to a 3 per cent swing to Labor in Victoria in target seats, which may result in an additional seat, on a good day, but they say this is highly unlikely.