PM moves cabinet meeting to Monday

Prime Minister Tony Abbott has announced the cabinet meeting will be moved forward to Monday at 9am to consider the spill motion.

"This morning, I have asked the Chief Government Whip to call a special Party Room meeting for 9.00am on Monday 9 February to consider the spill motion," he said in a statement.

Mr Abbott said: "The last thing Australia needs is instability and uncertainty.

"I have decided the best thing to do is deal with the spill motion as soon as possible."

Earlier, potential Liberal leadership contender Malcolm Turnbull surfaced from a day of seclusion in his Sydney home to say he supports the prime minister.

"I'm in the cabinet, of course I support the prime minister, everyone supports the prime minister," he told reporters on Sunday as he prepared to take a walk with his wife Lucy.

"You don't have to keep on saying that all the time."

His comments come as he and Tony Abbott last night appeared locked in a battle for the highest political job in the country.

Mr Abbott yesterday cleared the way for his MPs to cast judgment in a secret ballot on Tuesday.

On one side, there is a Prime Minister under siege, talking loyalty.

"I know my frontbenchers. I trust my frontbenchers," Mr Abbott said in Townsville on Saturday.

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And he dispatched those frontbenchers to talk him up.

"[Abbott's] a good man. He's a genuinely good human being," Treasurer Joe Hockey said.

The Prime Minister even likened the leadership fights to TV's medieval power drama.

"This game of thrones circus which the Labor Party gave us," Abbott said.

"I betrayed the faith of my king... and seize the throne for myself," Eddard Stark famously said in the hit series 'Game of Thrones'. Photo: HBO

Yesterday, Mr Turnbull was unsighted as he stayed inside his Eastern Sydney home.

"Malcolm's not going to come out and speak to you so can I suggest you go and get on with the rest of your Saturday's, and have a lovely weekend. Thank you," Lucy Turnbull told reporters.

Mr Turnbull has not even declared he is a candidate, the papers have done it for him, and MPs committed to a change of leader on Tuesday say he will run, though the message to Malcolm from the Abbott camp seems to be, 'don't you dare.'

"Malcolm Turnbull said he's not about to challenge Tony Abbott," Assistant Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said.

And the other fancied contender for Prime Minister?

Tony Abbott took Julie Bishop to Townsville with him.

She is holding back on any glowing endorsements, but is also talking loyalty.

Claims have emerged that trust between Prime Minister Abbott and and his deputy broke down during a telling phone call before the motion to spill the leadership. Photo: Getty

"I support the Prime Minister. I support the leader," Ms Bishop said.

"That is the role of the deputy and I've proven since 2007 that's the role I will play."

So Tuesday's Liberal Party Room spill here still lacks a declared challenger, like the farce two years ago where a Labor elder called on the vote, but the contender refused to run.

"I believe in honouring my word," Kevin said, but the then prime minister went on to win without a contest.

Rudd speaks to supporters on stage as he concedes defeat in the 2013 election. Photo: Getty

Abbott repeated; "We are not Labor. We are not Labor".

In fact, the 'federal-leadership-killing-fields' have trapped both major parties over the last eleven years.

John Howard one exception; the people ended his rule.

Then-Prime Minister John Howard signs the back of the shirt worn by former Australian fast bowler Dennis Lillie in 2007. Photo: Getty

Two leaders survived coup attempts along the way, but they and the rest eventually perished as their party rooms turned on them, except for Kevin Rudd's second life as a leader.

That ended at the last election.

So recent history for Tony Abbott is grim. In his favour, the roughly one third of his party room now thought to be pitted against him still feel the need to stay silent, though one of those told 7News some are waiting to seize momentum by speaking out closer to the vote.