Napthine's predecessor, Ted Baillieu, had gone with barely a whimper. The blood letting had been kept to a minimum and he had virtually unanimous support from his party.

But the blessing was mixed. The former vet and racing buff was starting more than two years into the political cycle, with lead in his saddle bags.

The Coalition government was already in strife, lagging in the polls, riven by internal tensions, dogged by claims of paralysis, and clinging to power with the barest of margins in the Parliament.

Napthine chose not to dwell on the negatives, launching himself into the job with passion and zeal.

"There is a fair bit in life and in politics (where) you could say, 'woulda, shoulda, coulda'," he said on Monday. "But you deal with the cards that are dealt ... and what you do is you grab it with both hands and you run with it."

Despite Napthine's enthusiasm for the job, the situation would not get any easier. A decision by Geoff Shaw to sit as an independent in Parliament meant Napthine was forced to walk a fine line. Shaw was more than willing to use his balance-of-power clout, leaving an ever-present sense of impending crisis hanging over the government that Labor would ruthlessly exploit.

The state's unemployment rate had been creeping steadily higher, with the manufacturing sector, particularly the car industry, under severe pressure. For months, business groups had been complaining about a lack of momentum.

Napthine needed a circuit breaker. That came in the form of the eastern half of the East West Link, a project which was already secretly underway when he took over. The road was formally placed on the political agenda in the May 2013 state budget, a mere year-and-a-half before the November 2014 election.

Problem was, the project never really stacked up; at least not using conventional cost-benefit analysis. The ambitious time frame and the lack of a rigorous business case had left the government vulnerable. The project ran into political trouble, not least because of concerns the government was backing a financially dubious road at the expense of public transport.

In its final budget, the Coalition government put a swathe of other projects on the agenda, including the second western half of the east west link, and airport rail link and a host of level crossing removals. But by then, it was all too late. Many of these projects would not be delivered for well over a decade. For voters, it failed the credibility test, and by now the deeply unpopular Abbott government was acting as political drag.

It is impossible to say whether Napthine would have won in November 2014 if he had had more time, and less unwanted inherited baggage to hinder his progress. But he was certainly a politician with many strengths. He was a passionate and emotional politician, who could be warm and, at times, fiery.

As Opposition Leader Matthew Guy put it, he was not a scripted politician trained by advisers in what to say and how to say it.

"He wore his heart on his sleeve, he was an emotional man, a real Piscean, but he was a lovely bloke, and I think Victorians personally warmed to him."

Napthine's government left the budget in strong shape, introduced free tram travel in the city, secured the future of SPC Ardmona, boosted police numbers and improved the performance of the rail network, among other things.

But one of his proudest legacies was to sign Victoria up to the National Disability Insurance Scheme and help secure Geelong as the scheme's headquarters.