Updated December 04, 2018 16:54:54

Photo: Sam Hibbins faced a challenge from both Labor and the Liberals. (Twitter: Sam Hibbins)

The Victorian Greens have claimed victory in the seat of Prahran, maintaining their hold on three seats in the Lower House.

Greens MP for Prahran Sam Hibbins will join Ellen Sandell (Melbourne) and Tim Read (Brunswick) to maintain the Greens' presence in the Lower House.

Mr Hibbins thanked the voters of Prahran for giving him the privilege of a second parliamentary term, and applauded his fellow candidates for running strong campaigns.

"The Greens stood on a positive, progressive platform of better public transport, affordable housing, clean energy and protecting our environment," Mr Hibbins posted on Facebook.

"As promised, my first priority will be to re-introduce the Greens' bill to protect LGBTIQ students from discrimination."

Mr Hibbins first won the seat for the Greens in 2014 by defeating the sitting Liberal MP Clem Newton-Brown.

Prahran was Victoria's most marginal seat going into the 2018 poll, with a margin of only 0.4 per cent.

This election, the fight for the seat in Melbourne's inner-south, was a three-way contest between Mr Hibbins, Labor candidate Neil Pharaoh and Liberal Party candidate Katie Allen.

Dr Allen received the most first-preference votes, followed by Mr Pharaoh and Mr Hibbins, but once preferences were distributed, the Greens MP was 5,845 votes ahead of his Liberal opponent.

Reacting to the result on Twitter, Dr Allen questioned whether a rethink of the preferential voting system was required, but later tweeted that she had been joking.

Mr Pharaoh conceded defeat on Tuesday afternoon.

"Unfortunately Labor hasn't won Prahran," Mr Pharaoh tweeted.

"The preferences didn't flow our way. We gave it all we had, and I'm so proud of everyone who was part of our campaign."

The win gives the Greens three seats in Victoria's Lower House, the same number the party held going into the election.

Photo: Lidia Thorpe won Northcote at a 2017 by-election, then lost it a year later. (AAP: Mal Fairclough)

The party gained the seat of Northcote in a by-election last year but lost it to Labor in the general election, ousting the Victorian Parliament's first Aboriginal woman MP, Lidia Thorpe.

ABC election analyst Antony Green looks at the candidates, the key seats and the results in the Victorian election.

But that loss has been offset by its gain in Brunswick, while Greens MP Ellen Sandell retained the seat of Melbourne which she wrested from Labor in 2014.

The party has suffered a big hit in the Upper House, where party leader Samantha Ratnam is its only remaining MP.

Samantha Dunn, Sue Pennicuik, Huong Truong and Nina Springle all appear likely to lose their seats, although counting in the Upper House has not been finalised.

The Greens blamed the losses on preference deals between the minor parties.

Photo: Independent Ali Cupper will be a new addition to the crossbench. (Facebook: Ali Cupper)

Meanwhile, independent Ali Cupper has claimed victory in the formerly safe Nationals seat of Mildura in the state's north-west.

The seat had been held by Nationals MP Peter Crisp on a margin of 8 per cent.

Ms Cupper will join the independent MP for Shepparton, Suzanna Sheed, on the crossbench of Victoria's Lower House.

Topics: elections, state-elections, parliament, state-parliament, greens, minor-parties, political-parties, government-and-politics, vic, melbourne-3000, prahran-3181

First posted December 04, 2018 16:15:11