Dr Chalmers spent Thursday morning calling colleagues to see if he had the numbers to get through a five-week leadership ballot but called Mr Albanese before lunch to offer him his "enthusiastic support".

"There were good reasons to run," he said. "But in the end I couldn't be assured of winning, and if I did win, the extra responsibilities of leadership would make it much harder to do my bit at home while the youngest of our three little kids is only five months old."

Dr Chalmers, the opposition's Queensland-based finance spokesman, remains the favourite to become deputy leader, with his withdrawal from the contest viewed favourably among colleagues. The Brisbane MP, from the right faction of the party, is likely to be paired with Mr Albanese, as the opposition looks to regain support in northern Australia.

However, Victorian Labor right MP Clare O'Neil on Thursday said she was considering a tilt at the Labor deputy position on Thursday. Labor's defence spokesman, Richard Marles, is also expected to nominate for the deputy leadership.

"Many Labor people - particularly Labor women - have contacted me in recent days encouraging me to run for Labor deputy leader to ensure there is a women in the leader/deputy team," Ms O'Neil said on Twitter. "I'm going to talk to a few colleagues about whether it's possible for me at this point."

Labor's internal guidelines mean that current deputy leader Tanya Plibersek, who is also from Mr Albanese NSW left faction, is highly unlikely to remain in that position.

Under Mr Albanese, the Labor Party is expected to dump or significantly alter its policy platform, including up to $20 billion in proposed taxes on retired shareholders and property investors in its first four years. The changes would have paid for all of Labor's cancer treatment, affordable housing, TAFE, pensioner dental and child care plans.

Mr Albanese, a senior figure in the party's left, said on Thursday he would focus on "creating wealth, not just redistributing wealth", and appealing to blue-collar workers, a cohort that left the party in droves in Saturday's shock election loss.

"Quite clearly we didn't do good enough on Saturday and we need to engage with people who are our base, as well as people who didn't vote for us," he said.

Mr Albanese and shadow treasurer Chris Bowen, who withdrew from the leadership race on Wednesday, have also urged the party to speak more to people of faith after receiving feedback from the community.

"People of faith no longer feel that progressive politics cares about them," Mr Bowen said.

If elected as deputy, Dr Chalmers will be able to choose his own portfolio and is expected to be interested in the shadow treasurer role.

Mr Albanese will speak to the media on Thursday afternoon. A caucus meeting had been scheduled for Monday to establish the next steps in the leadership process, but with no challenger, the party could not confirm if this would still occur.