Leader Bill Shorten stepped down following the loss, and by Wednesday afternoon it appeared Anthony Albanese would be installed unopposed with finance spokesman Jim Chalmers as his deputy.

Labor's treasury spokesman Chris Bowen withdrew from the race just 29 hours after announcing he would run.

"Both Albo [Albanese] and Chris [Bowen] would make very fine leaders," Dr Kelly said after claiming victory in Eden-Monaro.

"I have a close relationship with Albo, he can connect with people and he's a great communicator.

"Chris has also been a good friend.

"We've got lots of options there."

Formal nominations for the leadership close within the week, then candidates have 20 days to campaign to the country's rank and file membership.

Dr Kelly said the party is "fortunate to have this process", a process he was involved in creating during his first term in parliament.

"It's very healthy, and allows the grassroots to be involved," he said.

"It's transparent, and it's not a blood letting process at all.

"This process is the reason I've stayed in politics, it's been one of the most important changes I've seen"

He said he has learned from an election campaign which saw him claim victory a narrow victory in what he describes as the "very divided" electorate of Eden-Monaro.

"One of the lessons I will take on board is with the franking credits," he said.

"There were concerns raised from the lower end and we should have considered what they were saying.

"I'd like to apologise to anyone who's been caused anxiety by it and I will be a forceful advocate for change of policy with the caucus."

He said he is disappointed by his party's loss, in what he described as "such an important election".

"There will be another three years of delay in getting things settled because of internal divisions in the Liberal Party will continue," he said.

"We're losing more time on issues such as climate change and ordinary people are the ones who will pay the price.

"We are fortunate to have state policies and businesses and insurance companies choosing their own direction, but it would be far smoother if we had a more coherent consensus federally.

"We could be like California which has recently become the sixth biggest economy in the world because of a focus on renewables.

"We've also lost the opportunity to implement our carbon farming initiative. I'm very concerned about our dairy farmers, so I'm hoping the Coalition will pick up those options."

He said "black ops" and tax scare campaigns and tens of millions of dollars in advertising money from other parties, combined with media concentration, were issues of concern during the campaign.

He said with The Greens outvoting The Nationals in Eden-Monaro, certain campaign tactics hadn't worked in the electorate.

"It's a very tight electorate, and the toughest in the country in terms of size and spread," he said.

"It's not the place for the faint-hearted.

"I have proved that being in opposition, the community can count on me to keep fighting for them.

"I've shown I can pull business and organisations together to work on issues in terms of investment strategies.

"People in troubled times were going with what they know. I've always had a great fear of letting people down."

The Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security member said keeping "Australian space investment going" should be high on the government's agenda.

"If they up-stumps and go to the United States it will be a tragedy for the country," he said.