Greens claim Brunswick from Labor a week after poll - The Age

Ms Ratnam hit back at those who had dismissed the Greens. "Every single time people try to tell us the Greens won't win, and every time we defy them."

Before Saturday's election, the Greens speculated on possibly holding the balance of power in the Victorian parliament. Instead, Labor is expected to win at least 53 of the lower house's 88 seats, and the Greens are likely to lose MPs rather than gain.

Dr Read said the seats key issues in the seat included bike lanes and public transport. "The trams are just too crowded to board in peak hour," he said

He was 514 votes ahead of Labor's Cindy O'Connor or 50.59 per cent of the two-party preferred vote as of 2pm Saturday, with 87.17 per cent of the vote counted.

"Since 1904 this seat was held by Labor, so this is historic," he said earlier via a Facebook post. "A few more postal votes were counted this morning, but too few to alter the result ..."

In his post Dr Read thanked Ms Garrett and Ms O'Connor for their hard work and said he looked forward to working "positively" with the Labor government.

"I will also work to assist Labor in making good on their local campaign promises," he said.

This is the second time Dr Read, a Brunswick resident for two decades, has run for the seat. In 2014 he lost to former emergency services minister Jane Garrett, who took 52 per cent of the vote.

Ms O'Connor, a union organiser, was preselected as the Labor candidate for Brunswick after Ms Garrett decided to move to Victoria's upper house.

Dr Read has been a sexual health doctor for the past 20 years after heading to Darwin in 1999 to work with AIDS and HIV-infected patients.

He has campaigned to permanently remove car parking from Sydney Road in Brunswick and Coburg.

The spaces previously occupied by cars would instead be freed up for bike lanes that would be permanently separated from traffic to encourage cycling.

The Greens have also pulled ahead in counting in Prahran, with Sam Hibbins 5844 votes ahead of the Liberals' Katie Allen.

Liberals still sweating on Hawthorn, Caulfield

A number of seats remain in play, with counting still close but favouring Labor in the previously safe Liberal seats of Hawthorn and Caulfield.

In Hawthorn, the Liberals' John Pesutto trails Labor's John Kennedy by 164 votes.

If he can hold his seat, Mr Pesutto is expected to challenge Michael O'Brien for the Liberal leadership next week following Matthew Guy's resignation this week as Opposition leader.

Labor's Sorina Grasso has 50.16 per cent of the two-party preferred vote and leads the Liberals' David Southwick by 118 votes.

A Liberal loss in Caulfield would be historic, as Labor has never held the seat. It would leave the Liberal Party further stripped of established talent as it seeks to build a team to hold a dominant Labor government to account following Premier Daniel Andrews' landslide win last weekend.

Liam is Fairfax Media's science reporter

Debbie Cuthbertson is a senior writer and Saturday chief of staff at The Age.