Tim Wilson is set to become the first Liberal to knock off a sitting teal independent, claiming victory in a former blue ribbon seat.

Goldstein in Melbourne's southeast has come down to the wire after Zoe Daniel took a commanding lead on election night and danced on stage.

Postal votes have since swung the contest in Wilson's favour, with the Liberal pulling ahead by 676 votes on Wednesday morning.

"We have won," an emotional Wilson told reporters in Brighton in front of supporters.

"We had to defy political gravity to get here."

Several media outlets have called the win for Wilson, who served as the local member from 2016 to 2022 and on the front bench of the Morrison government.

Daniel has not called Wilson to concede, wanting to wait for counting to continue.

"This seems sensible given the margin is in the hundreds and there are about 12 thousand remaining votes to be counted," she wrote on social media.

Zoe Daniel on Saturday. – AAP

Wilson lost the seat to the former ABC journalist three years ago and said he and the party were "written off".

With the party in turmoil after Peter Dutton's stunning exit, the ambitious Victorian has hinted he'll push for a senior position in the Coalition's decimated leadership ranks, but was tight-lipped on Wednesday.

"I'm very proud to be part of a Liberal team, but it is a Liberal team that is going to have a lot of work ahead of it," Wilson said.

The moderate Liberal isn't backing away from the coalition's nuclear energy policy despite commentators suggesting it was partly to blame for the Liberals' landslide loss.

"Nuclear power is part of building the future industrial base of our country," he said.

"If we don't do that, then we are saying we're either going back to coal or we as a nation are going to de-industrialise."

Wilson may be the Liberals' lone representative from inner or middle Melbourne this parliamentary term, with opposition housing spokesman Michael Sukkar turfed out of Deakin and promising first-term MP Keith Wolahan trailing in Menzies.

Liberal candidate Amelia Hamer's hopes are still alive in neighbouring Kooyong against teal incumbent Monique Ryan, who also may have gone the early crow on Saturday night.

Ryan's lead over Hamer narrowed from about 1000 to 622 votes on Wednesday morning.

Hamer said it was too close to call on Tuesday afternoon, but there was a path to victory if postal votes continued on the same trajectory.

She said she considered calling Ryan to concede on Saturday night, but her team told her to wait for pre-poll votes to be counted.

The ABC has called the seat of Wills in Melbourne's north for Labor's Peter Khalil over Greens hopeful Samantha Ratman, while Greens leader Adam Bandt is still facing possible defeat to Labor candidate Sarah Whitty in Melbourne.