WA state election 2025 LIVE: Labor wins historic third term as seats tipped to turn blue look like remaining red

While a return to power is all but impossible for the Liberals, what would a “win” for the party look like tonight? Well, it depends on who you ask.

Speaking on the ABC election panel, Liberal MLC Steve Thomas conceded winning power would need an “unprecedented” swing in the 20s.

A better comparison would be the 2017 election result, which left the Liberals with 13 seats in the lower house and the Nationals with five.

While a return to 2017’s numbers – a gain of 10 seats on the Liberals’ part – was widely acknowledged as a strong outcome for the party, Thomas said he was optimistic and believed the Liberals and Nationals could end up with 20 seats between them.

But, in a cross to the ABC, Churchlands candidate Basil Zempilas was a lot more philosophical.

“For me it’s about the talent injection [to parliament], it’s not about the numbers,” Zempilas said, deflecting a question about whether a result in the single digits would be grounds for a leadership challenge.

“I think [Libby Mettam has] been magnificent … victory can come in many different ways tonight.”

Zempilas then rounded back on Labor, claiming the party’s focus on attacking him had hurt its own campaign.

“I don’t know in the history of Australian politics if any first-time candidate has been the focus of government attacks as I have been,” he said.