Tony Abbott won’t rule out serving in Malcolm Turnbull's Cabinet

Former prime minister Tony Abbott is not ruling out serving in the Cabinet of a re-elected Turnbull government, even if he believes such a suggestion is entirely hypothetical.

Mr Abbott told Neil Mitchell on 3AW radio today his purpose was to be the best possible local member in his Sydney seat of Warringah.

"Let's see what happens after the election," Mr Abbott said when asked about possibly returning to Cabinet under Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull. 

"The question of going back into cabinet is entirely hypothetical".

A poll commissioned by the Australia Institute last week found 63 percent of Australians want Mr Abbott to retire from politics.

More than 26 percent believed he should remain in parliament, while the rest were undecided.

The poll found 57 percent of people either agreed or strongly agreed that Mr Abbott was only sticking around because he wanted another crack at being prime minister.

Mr Abbott’s comments came after Coalition fell behind in the latest Newspoll two-party preferred poll published on Tuesday, with Labor leading 51 to 49 percent.

This was the first time Labor took the lead in the polls since Mr Turnbull took over as prime minster last September.

With AAP.