Greens' Bhathal loses bitter Batman battle

Alex Bhathal has lost an "unlosable" by-election for the Greens in Batman after a campaign dogged by bitter infighting.

It is Bhathal's sixth failed attempt at snatching the long-held Labor seat, raising serious questions about whether it will be her last.

Without a Liberal Party candidate in the race, the inner-metropolitan Melbourne seat was seen as the Greens' to lose.

The minor party had won the primary vote in the 2016 federal election but Liberal preferences helped Labor scrape over the line.

However, the Greens' pole position was undermined by ugly internal party conflicts.

Disgruntled members leaked damaging documents about Bhathal alleging bullying, intimidation and the misuse of party information.

Bhathal, a social worker, denied the accusations and tried to play down the impact of the infighting on her campaign.

Greens MPs also leapt to their candidate's defence and questioned the motivation of those who leaked against her.

A Bhathal victory would have given the Greens two seats in the House of Representatives for the first time.

Instead, the minor party must do some soul searching after a hugely disappointing result.

The loss compounds poor performances in the Tasmanian and South Australian state elections for the Greens.

The Batman result will likely put some pressure on Richard Di Natale's leadership of the party.

The Greens based their campaign on fighting the Adani coal mine in Queensland and being fairer to refugees.

There are suggestions the Greens focused too heavily on federal issues and spoke too much to their base rather than winning over swinging voters.

The contest was seen as a test of whether the Greens' march into inner-city seats would continue apace, or Labor showing signs of appealing to a younger demographic.