REVEALED: The incredible reason Dan Andrews WON'T be ousted as premier despite the 'list of enemies' within his own party quickly growing over his botched handling of the covid crisis

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews is facing growing criticism within his party over the state's COVID-19 response but his leadership of the 'election-winning machine' is not under threat according to Labor insiders.

Mr Andrews has faced numerous calls to resign in the wake of the coronavirus but sources says with no alternative leader banging on the door he is unlikely to be challenged for the top job.

Health Minister Jenny Mikakos sensationally resigned from her position on Saturday after Mr Andrews told an inquiry she was 'accountable' for the state's doomed hotel quarantine program which has been linked to numerous deaths.

Ms Mikakos is the fourth minister the under-fire premier has lost in barely three months - after three other high-ranking Labor politicians were stood down or sacked over branch-stacking allegations which emerged in June.  

The premier's list of detractors in the party is growing according to sources - particularly in Victorian Labor's right-wing faction - who believe he threw Ms Mikakos under the bus over the crisis, but he is likely to survive the pressure. 

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Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews on Wednesday. Sources inside the state's Labor Party have claimed while criticism of the under-fire leader is growing in the party room, the opposition has not yet reached 'critical mass'

Ms Mikakos resigned from parliament altogether and took a parting swipe at the premier as she claimed in a statement her integrity had been 'undermined'. 

But an MP on the party's right said the number of voices critical of their premier was still not enough to force through a leadership change, The Age reported.

'There’s a few more people in the disgruntled camp today than there was 12 months ago,' the Labor MP said. 'It’s got a bit more volume, but nowhere near critical mass.'

A left-leaning MP inside Labor's Victorian branch said while anger was growing over Mr Andrews' response to the pandemic, his opponents had put forward no alternative for who should lead the party.

Another source on the left of the party though conceded the premier would have little choice for who would succeed him if he chose to walk away.

Mr Andrews won re-election as Victorian premier in November 2018 in a landslide victory, but a MediaReach poll earlier this month said the Liberals were now well ahead with 61.2 per cent of the vote on a two party-preferred basis. 

Young women are seen walking together along a track by Princes Park in Melbourne on Monday. An inquiry into Victoria's hotel quarantine program has heard 768 people have lost their lives in the state to COVID-19 because of the botched regime

'He’s there for as long as he wants, he’s an election-winning machine, no one would argue against that. But if he says "I’ve had enough, by the way, I’m off, and this is what I want", that’s a kiss of death… we’ll do the exact opposite of that,' the MP said.

One MP from the right faction said Mr Andrews' authority had been 'chipped away at' due to his comments about Ms Mikakos during his appearance last week at the hotel quarantine inquiry. 

But an MP on the party's left said a leadership challenge should be the furthest thought from the minds of Victorian Labor members. 

Victorian Health Minister Jenny Mikakos stepped down from her role on Saturday after Mr Andrews said she was 'accountable' for hotel quarantine in the state. A Labor source there is anger due to the belief he threw Ms Mikakos under the bus over the crisis

Daniel Andrews celebrates his re-election in November 2018. An unnamed MP said the Victorian Labor leader is an 'election-winning machine'

Earlier on Tuesday, it emerged the taxpayer-funded budget for the inquiry into Victoria's bungled hotel quarantine program had blown out to $5.7million.

Mr Andrews has approved an extra $2.7million to the inquiry board, on top of the $3million originally allocated by the Victorian government.

So far, 794 Victorians have died and five million Melburnians have been forced to endure weeks of Stage Four lockdown. 

The inquiry heard of that total, 768 had died because of outbreaks at the botched hotel quarantine program responsible for the state's deadly second wave of cases. 

The inquiry is now sifting through the final submissions and more than 200,000 documents after six weeks of hearings ended last week.

The independent inquiry into the bungled program is being chaired by Jennifer Coate

The inquiry's final findings will be handed down November 6.

The public hearings have already been slammed by some commentators and Victorians, after it did not find the person responsible for allowing private security guards to work in the hotels.

Victoria recorded 13 new cases of coronavirus and four deaths on Wednesday, bringing down the 14-day average to 16.4 in Melbourne and 0.3 in regional Victoria.