Sophie Mirabella's political resurrection has passed the first major hurdle, winning Liberal preselection for the next federal election.

The former Coalition frontbencher and ally of Prime Minister Tony Abbott was on Sunday preselected by Liberal members for her former seat of Indi, in north-east Victoria.

Ms Mirabella lost the seat at the last election to independent Cathy McGowan.

Ms Mirabella defeated former Melbourne Ports candidate Kevin Ekendahl and doctor Andrew Walpole.

She took to social media to thank party members for their support.

"I am humbled by the enthusiastic support of Liberal Party members who came from every corner of Indi and entrusted me with their support. We all share the same passion to stand up for the things that are important to Indi," Mrs Mirabella told her Facebook followers.

Her selection sets up an intriguing battle, with a four-cornered contest likely with Coalition partners the Nationals also set to field a candidate.

Many in that party do not like Ms Mirabella and some in the Liberals have blamed their junior partners for undermining Ms Mirabella at the 2013 election.

Ms Mirabella's shock defeat in 2013 cost her a spot in Mr Abbott's first cabinet and she admitted to feeling responsible for the poor female representation in cabinet.

Liberal Party state director Simon Frost said the party was "delighted and energised" to have Ms Mirabella as the candidate for Indi.

"We do not underestimate the task of winning the seat. We know that having lost the seat last time we have a lot of hard work to do to re-engage with the electorate," Mr Frost said.

The party is promising to run "a strong grassroots campaign focussed on engaging and listening to the hopes, aspirations and issues of Indi residents".

"Her highest priority will be to provide strong and effective representation to the people of Indi, and that starts with continuous community engagement," Mr Frost said.

Work will start straight away with Ms Mirabella to begin an extensive listening tour of the electorate.