Outgoing Tasmanian premier Lara Giddings has tried to steady a devastated Labor ship after a historic low vote in the weekend election.

The party received only about 27 per cent of the popular vote, shedding nearly a third of its already weak support compared to the 2010 election, to be reduced to as few as six or seven members.

Ms Giddings held open the prospect that she would make way for a new party leader to tackle the strong mandate claimed by the Liberals' victory under Will Hodgman.

But in the face of clear calls to go from party dissident Brenton Best, she leaned towards staying on as a rebuilder, recalling the role of defeated premier Michael Field in 1992.

''He did a tremendous job in rebuilding Labor and set us up for 1996 election, an election we almost won,'' she said. ''Then in 1998 we did. These things are not simple. They must be thought about.''

Mr Best, who is unlikely to keep his own seat, said there were strong lessons to be learned, and it was time for wholesale change, with both Ms Giddings and her deputy, Bryan Green, taking responsibility for the result.

He blamed the outcome on voters' rejection of the previous Labor-Green minority government. However, Greens leader Nick McKim described Mr Best as ''a Labor rat who turned on the party''.

''Overwhelmingly there has been a tide to the conservatives across the country, and a mood for change in Tasmania,'' Mr McKim said of a result that may cut the Green representation from five to three MPs.

Federal Opposition Leader Bill Shorten added to Labor's anti-Green voices , saying he would discourage state governments from going into a formal alliance with them. ''There's no doubt that Labor having a relationship, a formal coalition, with the Greens was marked down by Tasmanian voters,'' Mr Shorten said.

Mr Hodgman will take a clear majority, likely to be 14 seats, into the 25-seat House of Assembly.