The festive season has been anything but for Victorian Liberal leader John Pesutto, as he stares down a three-way contest to hold on to his job.

A snap party room vote to re-admit an expelled colleague on Friday could morph into a referendum on the embattled leader’s tenure.

Amid speculation about an impending leadership challenge, first-term MP and opposition finance spokeswoman Jess Wilson has thrown her hat into the ring.

“If a spill motion is successful tomorrow, I will be a candidate for leader of the state parliamentary Liberal party,” Ms Wilson said in a statement on Thursday.

“Holding Labor accountable for their economic vandalism, and its consequences, and presenting a positive agenda to provide Victorians with a real choice at the next election is what is driving me to stand for the leadership.”

Ms Wilson had been touted as deputy leader to another challenger – opposition police spokesman Brad Battin – who is the frontrunner to depose Mr Pesutto amid reports he informed his boss of his intention to challenge for the job.

But the deal appears to be off the table.

“The best way forward to defeat Jacinta Allan and Labor was with a unified leadership ticket,” Ms Wilson said.

“Unfortunately, it has been made clear to me that a unity ticket is no longer on the table.

“Given that and after consulting my colleagues, I’ve decided to stand to offer them a choice.”

Pesutto’s job had been on shaky ground ever since he lost a defamation case brought against him by one-time colleague Moira Deeming.

A Federal Court judge found the Liberal leader had defamed Deeming by implying she was associated with Nazis who attended a controversial Melbourne rally she was at and ordered he pay her $315,000 and costs.

Then came a shock when former tennis star-turned-politician Sam Groth quit his shadow cabinet post, citing his leader’s refusal to stand down after the court loss.

A party vote, brought on less than a week later to decide whether Deeming would be allowed back into the party, split the team down the centre with Pesutto casting the tie-breaking vote to bar her from returning.

The Hawthorn MP deemed the matter “resolved” only to propose a January 15 gathering to return the upper house MP to the fold a day later.

“There is now a definite absolute majority of my colleagues who want this issue resolved with her readmission,” Pesutto said at the time.

But that last bid to quell tensions fell flat, with senior Liberal MPs Sam Groth, Richard Riordan, James Newbury, Brad Battin and Bridget Vallence signing a petition to meet on Friday to bring the issue to a head.

The battle to helm Victoria’s opposition comes less than two years before a pivotal state election at which the Labor government — increasingly on the nose with voters — will seek a rare fourth term.

-AAP