Former Liberal premier Ted Baillieu, who was in the middle of packing boxes as he farewelled his own career in politics, said Victoria needed more, not less, state-based coverage of the sort that was provided by the Friday evening edition of 7.30 Victoria.

"You lose state perspective and it tends to be the only stories that are run are those at a national level," he said

Mr Baillieu said the program – which has won numerous awards – had done a good job particularly with planning issues and gaming stories.

"When it was Stateline, it was the journal of record [for Victoria], where you had extended stories which went broadly acrosss the state and examined issues at some length," he said .  "It was only half an hour a week, but a lot of issues were raised."

Former Labor premier Steve Bracks described the program as "an important current affairs program which is widely watched and immensely respected across Victoria".

In an emailed statement, Mr Bracks noted the the ABC Charter encouraged programming that was not readily taken up by the commercial networks. He said 7.30 Victoria was "just such a program".

Premier Denis Napthine has urged the ABC to save the local edition of the 7.30 program and Deputy Premier Peter Ryan warned the show was important for people outside Melbourne.

Opposition leader Daniel Andrews, in a campaigning mood, emailed The Sunday Age a statement that read: "Over the past four years 7.30 Victoria has been integral in raising key issues of concern to Victorians like Liberals' cuts to TAFE and the Liberals' response to the Hazelwood mine fire. It is shows like 7.30 Victoria that will be gone thanks to Tony Abbott's and the Liberals cuts to the ABC and SBS."

The state-based current affairs show began as Stateline in 1995 and was re-badged as 7.30 Victoria in 2011.

The call from Victorian leaders came as several hundred people filled Sydney Town Hall Square on Saturday to protest against the $254 million cuts and forecast 400 job losses at the ABC.

Community and Public Sector Union national president Michael Tull said the purpose of the rally, to be followed by protests in Melbourne on Sunday and Canberra on Monday, was to hold Prime Minister Tony Abbott to his election-eve pledge of no cuts to the ABC or SBS.

Quentin Dempster, host of 7.30 NSW, said current affairs program Lateline had reportedly been gutted of its reporting strength and would be made "lighter".

He said: "Tony Abbott said unequivocally and unconditionally 'No cuts to the ABC or SBS'. Malcolm Turnbull is a bullshitter. I remember him once promising never to tell a lie to the Australian people. Let me recalibrate this. Malcolm Turnbull is a bullshit artist who has now compounded Tony Abbott's lie."