PUP failed because I didn't run: Palmer

Clive Palmer has signalled the death of his party, indicating it won't survive without him standing as a candidate.

The Palmer United Party (PUP) has so far secured only 0.19 per cent of the national vote for the Senate and a mere 307 votes in the Townsville-based electorate of Herbert, the only lower-house seat the party ran in.

That's despite Mr Palmer being elected to the lower house in 2013 and the party having three senators following the 2014 WA re-election.

Mr Palmer said PUP performed so poorly because he didn't stand as a candidate.

"People who were voting for us have said: `Well, Clive's no longer there. I'm not prepared to vote for them because they haven't got him there. I don't know what they're about'," he told AAP on Monday.

Mr Palmer has repeatedly said he didn't want to recontest his seat or a Senate spot because he wanted to spend more time with family and focus on his business interests.

However, he was unlikely to be re-elected anyway, given voter dissatisfaction in his electorate of Fairfax and the fallout from the collapse of his Queensland Nickel refinery near Townsville.

Mr Palmer said minor parties were elected in Australia on the strength of their leader's profile, which was why Derryn Hinch and Pauline Hanson were able to secure Senate spots.

He said that was also why his hard-working but quiet WA senator Dio Wang wasn't re-elected, but PUP-defector Jacqui Lambie was - she was able to build her own profile upon leaving his party.

Mr Palmer said he would remain on as PUP chairman for the next few weeks, but his party would be meeting to decide its future.

He conceded his political retirement likely marked the beginning of the end of his party, but added: "Or they may have another leader with a profile."

But when it was pointed out that any replacement wouldn't have as big a profile as himself, Mr Palmer laughed and replied: "Well, probably not."