Labor Left MPs are already organising their first post-election factional meeting and, if the ALP falls short of victory on Saturday, Bill Shorten's leadership of the party will be the first agenda item.
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The three faction conveners, Andrew Giles, Pat Conroy and Ann Urquhart, have begun calling MPs and informing them of a plan for the Left to come together on Thursday or Friday next week.
The election post-mortem will likely be held in Canberra or Melbourne, and will take place before the entire caucus comes together, which is expected in the second week after the election.
Two days before Australians vote, Mr Shorten was quizzed about whether he would remain leader after the election - in the event that Labor lost - and whether he might face a challenge from Anthony Albanese, the man he beat in the 2013 Labor leadership contest.
Mr Shorten avoided those questions and instead highlighted Coalition disunity, which had set the "gold standard".
"The Labor Party I lead has been united for the last three years and we are more united now than ever," he said.
Fairfax Media reported on Tuesday that Labor MPs are increasingly pessimistic about the party's prospects of victory and there is a growing expectation in Labor that Mr Shorten could gain eight to 10 seats but fall short of the 76 required to govern.
Several MPs have said that if Mr Shorten gains 10 seats, he will likely be able to hang on to the leadership.
One MP familiar with the plan for the Left meeting said the hope was that it would be devoted to parcelling out ministries in a newly-elected Shorten Labor government, "if all goes well".
"If doesn't go well, you can read between the lines," the MP said.
"It's just the first step, bringing people together, we need to get together no matter what."
A second MP, aware of the plans for the Left faction meeting, played down the fact the Left was coming together, but admitted that if Labor fell short of victory, Mr Shorten's future as leader - and the possible candidacy of the Left's Mr Albanese or Tanya Plibersek - would be up for discussion.
A final decision on whether, or who, the Left puts forward as a leadership candidate in the event of a Labor loss will not be taken at the first meeting.
A third Left source said that, in the final week of the campaign "Bill has seen the writing on the wall" and moved to the Left and in a bid to shore up his position as the Coalition has appeared to pull ahead of Labor in key marginal seats, if not in published opinion polls.
"Everyone thinks he [Bill] has done a really good job in the campaign and he actually could win more of the popular vote this time," that person said, adding that Mr Albanese was a chance to stand - even if it was likely he would lose - to help bed down the party's new leadership rules.
Under the leadership rules introduced by Kevin Rudd in July 2013, Labor's leadership is automatically declared vacant in the event of a federal election loss.
Leadership candidates must nominate with the backing of 20 per cent of the parliamentary party and, in the event that there is more than one candidate, a 30-day contest ensues to select the leader.
Rank and file members get a 50 per cent say in the choosing the leader of the party, while elected federal MPs also get a 50 per cent say.
Mr Albanese secured a thumping victory in the party rank and file vote in 2013, but Mr Shorten claimed an even stronger victory among MPs and therefore claimed the leadership.
The only people to comment publicly on Mr Shorten's post-election prospects to date are two of his key front-bench supporters, Mark Dreyfus and Kim Carr, who have both said he should remain leader whatever the result on July 2.
