“To win in Melbourne, we needed to overcome the combined forces of the Liberal, One Nation, and Labor parties — it’s a challenge we’ve faced successfully a few times before, but this time we just missed the mark,” Bandt explained, pointing to preferences as the reason for his loss.

Adam Bandt’s loss means the Greens are now leaderless. Source: AAP / Joel Carrett

Bandt also cited “hate” for the former Opposition leader Peter Dutton, who presided over one of the on Saturday, as a factors that pushed voters in Melbourne away from the Greens towards Labor.

Bandt did not take questions at the press conference.

“If the Greens are considered too ‘extreme’, it’s a form of extremism that resonates with a significant and relatively stable portion of Australians,” commented Josh Holloway, a Government lecturer at Flinders University, in The Conversation on Thursday.

It is believed that Greens senators Sarah Hanson-Young and Larissa Waters are potential candidates for leadership, though neither has formally announced their intentions.

Greens voters deliver mixed results

However, these gains appeared temporary with Brisbane’s Stephen Bates and Griffith’s Max Chandler-Mather conceding defeat following Labor’s landslide victory.

In 2022, MPs Stephen Bates, Elizabeth Watson-Brown, and Max Chandler-Mather joined leader Adam Bandt in the lower house in what was dubbed a “Greenslide”. Source: AAP / Lukas Coch

Chandler-Mather acknowledged the party had fallen short when it came to lower house seats — which was “bitterly disappointing”.