Liberal leadership: Tony Abbott confident he will beat Malcolm Turnbull in ballot.

“I will be a candidate and I expect to win.”

Prime Minister Tony Abbott has confirmed a ballot will be held tonight for his job and the job of deputy Liberal leader, and he says he is confident of beating challenger Malcolm Turnbull.

The Government is in turmoil as both camps count the numbers to see whether Mr Turnbull has enough support to topple Mr Abbott.

Mr Turnbull’s supporters believe he has the numbers to win a ballot, and he has secured the support of Deputy Liberal Leader Julie Bishop, which is considered crucial.

It is understood Ms Bishop met the Prime Minister before Question Time to tell him he had lost significant support from the ministry.

After Question Time, Mr Turnbull quit Cabinet and told Mr Abbott he would challenge for the leadership before calling a snap media conference.

“A little while ago I met with the Prime Minister and advised him that I would be challenging him for the leadership of the Liberal Party,” Mr Turnbull said.

“Now this is not a decision that anyone could take lightly. I have consulted with many, many colleagues, many Australians, many of our supporters in every walk of life.”

Mr Turnbull said he had been under sustained pressure to put his name forward.

“This course of action has been urged on me by many people over a long period of time.

“It is clear enough that the Government is not successful in providing the economic leadership that we need. It is not the fault of individual ministers.

“Ultimately, the Prime Minister has not been capable of providing the economic leadership our nation needs. He has not been capable of providing the economic confidence that business needs.

“Now we are living as Australians in the most exciting time. The big economic changes that we’re living through here and around the world offer enormous challenges and enormous opportunities.”

We are not the Labor Party, Abbott says

Mr Abbott responded defiantly, calling a media conference to confirm he would contest the leadership ballot.

“The Prime Ministership of this country is not a prize or a plaything to be demanded. It should be something which is earned by a vote of the Australian people,” Mr Abbott said.

“I will be a candidate and I expect to win.”

Mr Abbott said there was strong support for him to stay on.

“I have been heartened by the messages of support flooding into Liberal MPs’ offices this evening saying most emphatically, ‘we are not the Labor Party’.

“This country needs strong and stable government and that means avoiding, at all costs, Labor’s revolving-door prime ministership.”

Mr Abbott also highlighted his achievements at the helm.

“Since coming to Government, our team has stopped the boats, improved the budget, cut taxes and increased jobs,” he said.

“We have laid the foundation for a better deal for families and for small business. You can trust me to deliver a stronger economy and a safer community.

“Obviously, I am dismayed by the destabilisation that’s been taking place now for many, many months and I do say to my fellow Liberals that the destabilisation just has to stop.

“I firmly believe that our party is better than this, that our Government is better than this and, by God, that our country is so much better than this.”

‘We need advocacy, not slogans’

Mr Turnbull identified the Prime Minister’s approach to the job as a main concern.

“We need a different style of leadership,” he said.

“We need a style of leadership that explains those challenges and opportunities, explains the challenges and how to seize the opportunities.

“A style of leadership that respects the people’s intelligence, that explains these complex issues and then sets out the course of action we believe we should take and makes a case for it.

“We need advocacy, not slogans. We need to respect the intelligence of the Australian people.

“The only way we can ensure that we remain a high wage, generous social welfare net, first world society is if we have outstanding economic leadership, if we have strong business confidence.

“That is what we in the Liberal Party are bound to deliver and it’s what I am committed to deliver if the partyroom gives me their support as leader of the party.

Just hours earlier, Mr Abbott dismissed leadership speculation during a media event in South Australia.

“I just am not going to get caught up in Canberra gossip, I’m not going to play Canberra games,” he said.

“I know that sometimes the media particularly like to play the Canberra game, but I’m not going to get involved with it.

“I’m just not going to chase all of these rabbits down all of the burrows that you are inviting me to go down, I’m just not going to play the Canberra games.”

A number of senior ministers had foreshadowed the likelihood of leadership challenge before the end of the year.

“And this time I think they will get him,” one minister said.

Turnbull admits timing not ideal

Mr Turnbull was opposition leader before he was unseated by Mr Abbott.

Mr Turnbull has acknowledged the timing of his announcement is “far from ideal”.

The Canning by-election will be held this Saturday, after the death of popular Liberal MP Don Randall.

“But regrettably, there are few occasions that are entirely ideal for tough calls and tough decisions like this,” Mr Turnbull said.

“The alternative if we were to wait and this issue, these problems were to roll on and on and on is we will get no clear air.

“We have to make a change for our country’s sake, for the Government’s sake, for the party’s sake.

“From a practical point of view a change of leadership would improve our prospects in Canning, although I’m very confident with the outstanding candidate we have that we will be successful.”

Roy throws support behind Turnbull

Queensland MP Wyatt Roy is one of the first Government MPs to show his hand, confirming he will support Mr Turnbull in a leadership challenge.

“I will be backing Malcolm Turnbull,” he told 612 ABC Brisbane.

“These are not decisions that people come to lightly but as Malcolm pointed out in his press conference, modern politics is very different to how it has been practised in the past.

“The reason I came into politics was because I wanted to change the country for the better.

Mr Roy said he wanted his Government to create meaningful reforms and the Coalition needed to communicate its message differently.

He said he would back Ms Bishop to remain as deputy but did not believe there would be a ballot for that position.

This post originally appeared on ABC News.