Days after more than half of the Victorian cabinet publicly declared their support for giving people a greater choice to die with dignity, a number of opposition frontbenchers have also endorsed a policy shift, making it increasingly likely that state Parliament could pass legislation if the vexed issue is reignited.

Upper house leader Mary Wooldridge said she generally supported the notion of an assisted dying regime in Victoria, telling The Sunday Age: "This is where we need to head, but it has to be done carefully."

Opposition families and children spokeswoman and former nurse Georgie Crozier said she was also "comfortable" with legislative change, provided appropriate safeguards were in place to ensure vulnerable people were not exploited.

Opposition corrections spokesman Ed O'Donohue – who chaired a parliamentary committee that examined end-of-choices earlier this year – said he would vote in favour of assisted dying laws if the issue was put to a conscience vote.

"Our report has created a pathway for reform that deals with the perceived risks, and by world standards is a relatively modest regulatory framework," Mr O'Donohue said. "If the committee's recommendations were to be reflected in legislation, I would vote in favour of that."

The push to give terminally ill people the ability to choose the timing and manner of their death intensified in June, when Mr O'Donohue's Legal and Social Issues Committee handed down a report that the Andrews government must respond to by the end of the year.

Based on a 10-month inquiry and more than 1000 submissions, the bipartisan report recommended an assisted dying regime be available to adults who are suffering from a serious or incurable condition at the end of their life and which is "causing enduring and unbearable suffering that cannot be relieved in a manner the patient deems tolerable".

Under the proposal, only patients with decision-making capacity would have the right to ask for help to die - not their relatives or another person. First they would make an initial verbal request to their doctor, then they would need to fill in a form, and then they would need to affirm their wish to die verbally again.

The committee's report did not push for voluntary euthanasia (which involves ending another person's life to relieve their suffering, as opposed to assisted suicide, which is self administering) but the broader debate was reignited this week when Health Minister Jill Hennessy became the first cabinet MP to publicly declare her support for law reform.

More than half of the cabinet has since joined her, including Treasurer Tim Pallas, Attorney-General Martin Pakula, Agriculture Minister Jaala Pulford and Police Minister Lisa Neville.

Premier Dan Andrews' stance has also softened after the death of his father from cancer. Asked about voluntary euthanasia last year, Mr Andrews told the Melbourne Press Club: "I don't support, at this stage … making the sort of change that some people would like to make, but I do readily acknowledge that there is certainly more momentum."

However, when the issue was raised this Wednesday, the Premier hinted he was open to change. "If you search your conscience, and you search your own personal experience, I think more and more Victorians are coming to the conclusion that we are not giving a dignified end, we are not giving the support, the love and care that every Victorian should be entitled to in their final moments," he said.

Opposition Leader Matthew Guy said he did not support changing the law, but would grant Liberal MPs a free vote on the matter. Others in his team have also expressed their support to Fairfax Media, albeit privately. The Greens and Sex Party MP Fiona Patten are also in favour of reform.