A crushing drought was followed by devastating bushfires, the loss of a tourist season and then the crippling economic blow from the coronavirus.

And now, politicians are criss-crossing the seat ahead of Saturday's by-election.

Respected Labor member Mike Kelly retired from parliament in April for health reasons, saying he couldn't do the mammoth seat justice any more.

While there are 14 candidates running for the seat, expectations are that the race is down to Liberal Fiona Kotvojs and Labor's Kristy McBain.

Dr Kotvojs ran against Dr Kelly in the 2019 federal election, slicing two points off his margin to come in only 1685 votes behind.

Ms McBain, until recently the Bega mayor, came to national prominence during the bushfire crisis.

She also has the weight of history on her side, with no government of the day having won a seat off the opposition in a by-election for a century.

Labor has estimated the personal vote of Dr Kelly is worth three or four points since he broke the seat's decades-long bellwether status in 2016 to take it back off the Liberals.

Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese has invested a lot of time personally into campaigning with Ms McBain, who he spruiks as in touch with locals.

People have consistently raised with him the bushfire recovery and worries they're being left behind or missing out from coronavirus support.

"On top of a difficult summer, they read these reports and the gap between government announcement and delivery is enormous," Mr Albanese told AAP.

"It's about the local impact of those national events. It's about how people are being impacted, how they feel, whether the government has been there to support them."

Locals had been "justifiably cynical" about the timing of government announcements during the by-election campaign, such as a package targeting orchards, wineries and timber mills hurt by the bushfires.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison rejected as offensive a suggestion the $86 million package was pork-barrelling.

His campaign for Dr Kotvojs has hinged on the benefits he says having a government backbencher will bring voters over picking someone from the opposition.

"Right here, right now, it's about jobs and jobs here in Eden-Monaro," he told reporters in Canberra on Thursday.

"I need someone here on the ground ... who will fight for those jobs and will storm into my office and say, 'The primary producers need this now, boss,' or, 'The timber millers need this'."

With the Nationals also running a candidate in Trevor Hicks, the coalition campaign had a rocky start and end with infighting between the parties.

NSW state ministers John Barilaro and Andrew Constance knocked each other out of contention at the start of the race, while in the final week Mr Barilaro, the deputy premier, has faced accusations he's undermining the Liberals so he can have a clear tilt at the seat in 2022.

The state Nationals leader denied those claims on Thursday, but said he hadn't ruled in or out running in the seat next time around.

"Everyone knows I'm a mate of Mike Kelly ... the loss actually in this by-election is that we've lost Mike Kelly as the local member and a representative for this region," he told reporters in Queanbeyan.

The betting markets have Ms McBain ahead, as do the opinion polls, although there has been a late surge of punters backing Dr Kotvojs.

Whether that makes much of a difference when more than two in five voters have cast their ballot early or by mail remains to be seen.

Australian Associated Press