Voters in the Melbourne by-election have been found to be deeply divided about the Gillard government's performance and the Greens face a much tougher battle to secure the seat than the minor party has claimed.

Pollster ReachTEL has unearthed deep dissatisfaction with the Gillard government among many voters in the inner-city state seat, with more than a third of those surveyed revealing they were less likely to vote Labor at Saturday's by-election based on federal factors.

But the same number of voters declared they were more likely to stick with Labor on the back of Canberra's efforts, suggesting the rusted-on ALP vote may be holding up in the electorate.

The Brisbane-based pollster found that 70 per cent of voters would be influenced, negatively or positively, by the Gillard government's performance, despite the fact it is a state by-election.

This means that, regardless of the result, the fallout from the by-election will be felt nationally as well as in Victoria.

The ReachTEL findings come after The Australian revealed last week that internal Victorian Labor polling suggested three times as many people cited the performance of the federal government, rather than that of the state government, as the reason they would not vote for Labor.

The survey of more than 400 voters on Monday night reported the Greens candidate Cathy Oke securing 38.1 per cent of the first preference vote with Labor's Jennifer Kanis on 36.5 per cent, pointing to a knife-edge result that will be decided by preferences from the other 14 candidates.

Independents and other candidates do not appear to be polling strongly, with the Australian Sex Party's Fiona Patten the third-most popular candidate, securing just 6.1 per cent of the vote, followed by suburban councillor Stephen Mayne on 4.3 per cent. Family First's Ashley Fenn was lagging on 3.8 per cent. The Liberal Party is not running a candidate.

Melbourne poll … from robocalls to biased Faine to The Oz hit squad

With just three days to go in Melbourne’s bellwether byelection pitting the ALP’s Jennifer Kanis against the Greens’ Cathy Oke (and Crikey founder Stephen Mayne), it’s time to cast an eye over the situation on the ground as Julia Gillard hopes to dodge a grenade from what was once Labor’s impregnable heartland.

Jon Faine under fire over election-eve panel

Fringe candidates have rounded on ABC Mornings presenter Jon Faine for failing to include them on his election-eve panel at the Queen Victoria Market on Friday. The three-person panel includes the two major candidates — Jennifer Kanis and Cathy Oke — but just one third candidate, Stephen Mayne.

Independents lined up to sledge the veteran broadcaster, saying they were more popular than Mayne and deserved to have their voices heard.

Family First candidate Ashley Fenn told Crikey his omission was because of Faine’s “left-leaning political views”.

S-x Party candidate Fiona Patten claimed Greens volunteers were handing out Mayne how-to-vote cards — “It’s like having two Greens and Labor there … and no independents. “Faine has shown his colours that he is a Greens supporter … and he is being biased. “I’m going to give him a call now,” she added. “I would love to be on that panel … we polled over 8% at the last byelection in Victoria.”

A spokesman for Independent African community candidate Berhan Ahmed, Ken Betts (a former Liberal candidate in Footscray interestingly) said Faine was “disgraceful”. “Where’s the equal time? It’s all about Greens and Labor,” he said. “They’re [voters] are coming our way, he’s getting the Vietnamese vote because my wife is Vietnamese and I’m on a number of Vietnamese committees, the Africans are supporting him, the Chinese are supporting him … he’s going to out-poll Stephen, that’s for sure.”

FIONA PATTEN, AUSTRALIAN SEX PARTY

What are the top three issues facing Melbourne residents and how would you address them?

Drugs, transport and policing. We want decriminalisation of recreational drugs, and drug administration within the health rather than the criminal justice portfolio.

Public transport in the city has to run 24 hours on Fridays and Saturdays to allow people from the suburbs, who come in for a night on the town, to get home and go to sleep – $50 cab fares are not affordable for many. Trapped in the city, people can become anti-social and violent.

More than 50 per cent of violent crime happens in people’s homes in the suburbs. Only 2 per cent of violent crime happens in the city. So where are all the police? In the city, of course.

What is your vision to help the homeless, mentally ill and dispossessed?

A large percentage of people with mental illness also use drugs. Decriminalise drug use and people are way more likely to report themselves with a health problem before it gets out of hand. If we treat drug use as a health issue rather than a criminal one, we will have better resources to deal with people affected by drugs and people with mental illnesses.

Not all homeless people want a ‘‘home’’ to live in. This has to be respected and tolerated and adequate facilities provided.

We need to establish specialized emergency facilities for the mentally ill. Police are being forced to drop mentally ill people at emergency rooms. Obviously this is not the answer!

People know the word sex gets attention, so having it in your party name gets you noticed, says Amber Petty.

I heard there was some sort of Australian Sex Party out there, thanks to Adelaide agency Fnuky's cheeky 2010 election campaign for them, aptly titled Jerk Choices.

At the time, I rather naively thought they might be a bunch of randy people whose mission it was to have us all propped up at strip shows or running around nude at the beach. Although why they'd want us nude at the beach, I don't know.

So when I met a smart young man recently who insisted I must meet his friend Fiona Patten, a member of the Australian Sex Party, I was a little intrigued. Intrigued to think he saw more sex in me than I have seen in myself but, as they say, sex sells and I was on board for an introduction.

I walked into our meeting place, eyes darting around to see if I could guess who looked the most like a "sex party" candidate.

Far from being what my gullible self may have presumed seeing - a woman in tasselled bikini top waving a copy of FHM at me - an elegantly dressed lady smiled across at me.