Under Australian Electoral Commission rules, candidates who get more than four per cent of the first preference vote receive about $2.91 per vote which would allow Mr Dyson to recover his own contribution.

"It was quite a surprise last election, when after spending a total $5000 on my campaign, that I was eligible for $29,000 worth of public funds due to my approximate 10,000 first-preference votes," he said.

Mr Dyson said he could not claim it because he had not spent it, so this election he was backing himself to at least hit 15 per cent of the primary vote and "hopefully break even" on the campaign.

"It's me doing everything I can to stand behind my ideals and show my commitment to the people of Wannon," he said.

The independent candidate said he believed Dan Tehan's first preference votes would have earned the incumbent and the Liberal Party about $150,000 in the last election.

Mr Dyson said the amount he had put into the campaign had been matched by a $60,000 donation from political funding group Climate 200.

He said his ad expenditure included $25,000 for printing material, $16,000 for newspapers, $15,000 for radio and $12,000 for TV.

Mr Tehan's office did not disclose his campaign budget but said parties had to adhere to strict funding guidelines.

However, a report from social media giant Facebook's ad library showed the Liberal member had spent $13,054 on online ads putting him at the top of the billing list.

Mr Tehan was followed by Mr Dyson at $3102 and Labor candidate Gilbert Wilson at $628.

The report also revealed Labor's national and Victorian branches had injected almost $460,000 into Facebook ads in Victoria since February.

IN OTHER NEWS:

According to the ad library, the Victorian Liberal Party had spent over $180,000 on online ads across the state.

The United Australia Party was reported to have totalled over $120,000 on its Facebook ads.

UAP candidate Craige Kensen said the party had also used billboards and radio, TV, and newspaper ads as they had difficulty getting media coverage of party leader Craig Kelly.

Greens candidate Hilary McAllister said about $5000 had been used to cover her printing and advertising costs.

The Victorian Greens were revealed to have billed $49,034 for their Facebook ad spending.

Liberal Democrats candidate Amanda Mead said she had spent about $3600 on her promotion material which included about $520 on flyers, $90 on business cards, $360 on car magnets, $1070 on corflutes and $1070 on banners.

Wannon independent Graham Garner said he had not done any advertising and had only put about $6000 into his campaign.

One Nation candidate Ronnie Graham was contacted for comment but failed to respond.

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