Melb port to be sold for 'minimum' $5.3b

Melbourne's port could be leased before the end of the year with a "minimum" price of $5.3 billion.

Treasurer Tim Pallas expects to get more than that, and the opposition believes the 50-year lease could go for as much as $7 billion.

The government and opposition have done a deal on amended legislation after months of "tough" negotiations.

"It went a lot longer than I would have liked, and I probably wouldn't have settled on the terms offered had we lived in a perfect world," Mr Pallas told reporters on Wednesday.

The port price is already on the government's books as $5.3 billion, a holdover from the previous government.

"As a minimum we'd expect those funds," Mr Pallas said.

The deal includes a 10 per cent injection for regional Victorian infrastructure, including rail lines upgrades to get produce to the port.

Opposition Leader Matthew Guy said the government's original plan for the port lease would have left the state facing huge compensation bills for potentially 70 years.

"The amended bill is one that is sensible and far more reasonable," he told reporters on Wednesday, adding it didn't preclude the development of a second container port.

The legislation was initially held up when the opposition requested an upper house inquiry. It was further delayed by a battle over compensation clauses for the new owners.

The government wanted to offer compensation if a competing port was built before Melbourne reached capacity for the full 50 years of the lease.

Both sides eventually settled on 15 years.

Mr Pallas said expressions of interest would be called once the legislation was passed, with the sale to go ahead later this year.

"I'm told that if we work diligently at it, and keep to schedule, we should be able to achieve it by the end of this calendar year," Mr Pallas said.

He would not confirm how many bidders had already indicated an interest in the lease.

Debate on the amended legislation will start in the upper house on Thursday and could stretch into the next sitting week.