Legalise Cannabis Victoria (LCV) may secure three upper house seats in the state elections, with AltMed/Phytoca's Andrew Dowling edging closer to a win in Western Victoria.
At 72% of the count completed, Dowling holds fifth place with 71,272 votes after preferences, equating to an 18% share. Each of the state's eight regions returns five upper house Legislative Council MPs.
Derryn Hinch's Justice Party is behind LCV on 58,029 votes, which amounts to a 14.65% share.
On Monday, when counting was still in its early stages, LCV party secretary Craig Ellis said he was "cautiously optimistic" Rachel Payne would be elected in South-Eastern Metropolitan along with David Ettershank in Western Metropolitan.
On Thursday, Dowling said: "Counting is still continuing and it's too early to tell exactly how many seats LCV will pick up, but we are hopeful of gaining at least one in the upper house.
"The final results will be determined on December 13 when 'below the line' votes are counted. Until then we are watching the count with our fingers crossed."
The upper house has 40 seats in total, and with Labor and the Coalition expected to split roughly 30 of them between them, minor party representatives are likely to hold the balance of power.
The picture was less encouraging for progressives elsewhere, with Reason Party leader Fiona Patten at risk of losing her Northern Metropolitan seat to the socially conservative Democratic Labour Party's Adem Somyurek.
