Victorian Premier Ben Carroll hit the road on Sunday morning aboard Labor's campaign bus for his party's first official day of electioneering ahead of the November 28 state poll.
The bus stopped at a Geelong hospital, where Mr Carroll announced a pledge to cut emergency department wait times across the state before greeting volunteers at a community event.
In Melbourne's east, Opposition Leader Jess Wilson visited a tennis club that was vandalised just days earlier.
The state Liberal leader said the incident was a sign of persistent crime that had been allowed to develop under 12 years of Labor.
The duelling events reinforced health and law and order as two key battlegrounds for the state election.
"There's nothing more important to Victorians than our healthcare system," the premier said, announcing a re-elected Labor government would put $1.5 billion towards expanding emergency departments at 12 hospitals.
The move would fund 250 extra beds and 1500 more health workers to cut emergency wait times by up to 20 per cent.
It was welcomed by the Victorian Branch of the Australian Medical Association, but the peak body warned more must be done to relieve pressure along the emergency care pipeline.
"The reality is that emergency departments do not operate in isolation," branch president Simon Judkins said.
Mr Carroll repeated his claim a coalition government under Ms Wilson would seek to "Americanise" the health system.
His comments were a reference to an opposition plan to fund 25,000 extra elective surgeries through private hospitals to relieve pressure on public facilities.
But Ms Wilson rejected the suggestion, saying the opposition's focus was on using capacity across the state's healthcare system.
The coalition has committed to shortening emergency department wait times, reducing ambulance ramping and introducing incentives for regional health workers.
It has also pledged to create 10 new or expanded patient transit lounges in hospitals to divert patients medically ready to leave.
Ms Wilson spoke from Upwey South Tennis Club, which was broken into on Friday night.
"That's why the Liberals and Nationals are so committed to reducing crime in this state," she said.
"So clubs like here, people in their homes, people in their businesses, can feel safe again."
Ms Wilson spruiked her pledge to hire 3000 new police officers, reopen or expand the hours of more than 50 police stations and tighten bail laws and sentences for violent youth offenders.
Labor has offered its own tough-on-crime pledges, including to add 1500 officers and build a new police training academy.
The premier addressed his party's faithful later on Sunday at a Labor volunteer event at Werribee, in Melbourne's southwest.
"It's you that we're fighting for," he told the crowd of supporters, draped in the party's red livery.
"You are going to help us make a very historic victory come November."
Among the crowd was Meg Lister - mother of Werribee Labor MP John Lister - who said the energy five weeks out from the state election was palpable.
"I've just been totally amazed by John's crew of door knockers, how young they are, and how keen they are," she told AAP.
Momentum had built since Jacinta Allan, Mr Carroll's predecessor, was toppled as leader in July.
"It's a shame for Jacinta. She had a lot to offer," Ms Lister said.
"But we needed it. We needed the energy."
However, any shift in momentum is yet to materialise in the polls, which suggest the coalition is ahead of Labor on primary votes, followed by One Nation.
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