Some senior politicians are nervously waiting by their phones hoping for a cabinet promotion, as Labor finalises a cabinet reshuffle.

Party heavyweights met on Friday to decide who will step up to fill two Left faction positions in Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s cabinet after the resignations of ministers Linda Burney and Brendan O’Connor.

Both will retire at the next federal election, which is due by May 2025. They will bow out of cabinet immediately to make way for fresh legs in the run-up to the yet-to-be-determined polling day.

Speculation has swirled around a handful of potential replacements, but NDIS Minister Bill Shorten said voters would have to wait and see.

“Loyalty is not always rewarded but merit should be,” he told the Today show on Friday.

Announcing the shuffle on Thursday, Albanese made much of his government’s stability – it is the first change of roles since Labor came to government in May 2022.

“No government in living memory has had the same cabinet and ministerial positions for its first two years in office,” he said.

“At the next election, I will be seeking to be the first prime minister since John Howard in 2004 to serve out a term and be re-elected as prime minister.”

Indigenous Senator Malarndirri McCarthy is Burney’s assistant minister to Burney and widely regarded as her heir apparent. She is also from the Left faction.

NSW Left faction senators Tim Ayres – a close ally of Albanese – and Jenny McAllister are considered strong performers while Queensland Senator Anthony Chisholm is also in the mix.

All three are assistant ministers.

The future of Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil is uncertain, with talk she could be moved sideways into another ministry to allow someone such as frontbencher Murray Watt to take over the portfolio.

After months of criticism over asylum seekers released from immigration detention, Immigration Minister Andrew Giles could also change positions.

The full extent of Albanese’s cabinet shake-up will be revealed on Sunday, but Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has already launched a pre-emptive attack.

“If Andrew Giles doesn’t get the flick, I don’t know who does,” he told the Today show on Friday.

There is a view more senators need to be brought in as ministers to help share the workload during busy parliamentary weeks and estimates, when they represent ministers from the lower house.

Lower house MPs Ged Kearney and Julian Hill are also being mentioned by Canberra insiders, while Northern Territory MP Marion Scrymgour could pick up McCarthy’s assistant Indigenous affairs position.

Assistant ministries are handed out by the prime minister.

Promoting McCarthy would leave one cabinet spot open if Albanese decided to stick with its current size.

Outer minister Pat Conroy, another Albanese confidant, is a strong contender for promotion. Elevating him would leave an outer ministry spot available and clear the decks for a Left senator call-up.

The NSW and Victorian party branches will also need to roll out pre-selection processes for new candidates in the seats held by Burney and O’Connor.

Burney won the inner-Sydney seat of Barton with more than 50 per cent of the primary vote and more than 65 per cent overall at the 2022 federal election.

“The most important thing … is for me to support whoever it is in the role and to give them the space to be able to chart their own path and carry on the many important jobs that we’ve started,” she told ABC radio.

O’Connor’s outer Melbourne seat of Gorton is held on a 10 per cent margin. It is considered a safe seat, although it had a more than 10 per cent swing against Labor’s primary vote and 4 per cent overall swing to the Liberals in 2022.

-with AAP