Ahead of the impending leadership spill, Charles Sturt University associate professor Dr Dominic O'Sullivan, who is based at Bathurst, said the odds were in favour of Rudd. 

"It surely was a dramatic set of events but they want to get it sorted before Parliament rises," he said.

"Simon Crean came out in a calculated way which shows there's support and momentum for change."

Dr O'Sullivan said a return to Rudd as leader would give Labor a competitive edge in the federal election. 

"There's an awful amount of ground work to be made up," he said.

As the government narrowly avoided the motion to suspend standing orders to debate a vote of no confidence, the call for the constant destabilisation to end was loud and clear.

Dr O'Sullivan said Ms Gillard had a "lucky escape" as several independents sided with the opposition in a strange agreement.

"Julia is defiant, she's not a sort of person to give up and if she's going to go down, she'll go down with a fight," he said.