A meeting of shadow cabinet on Monday and a meeting of the Liberal partyroom the following day will decide whether the opposition supports the bill.

Daily negotiations between the government and the opposition this week have left gay and lesbian activists hopeful that the bill will not be blocked when it enters parliament this week.

The bill aims to end discrimination against same-sex couples across more than 40 separate pieces of legislation, including superannuation, medical treatment and stamp duty.

But the opposition - which has been split internally over the bill - has previously refused to support it on the grounds that it would extend rights to people in other domestic relationships, such as housemates.

Amendments proposed by independent MP Susan Davies that would clarify and tighten the definition of "domestic partner" in the laws have won the support of the government.

Attorney-General Rob Hulls said yesterday that the proposed amendments did not undermine the philosophical integrity of the bill.

The government is expected to move its own amendments when the bill comes before the lower house, most likely on Tuesday.

Shadow attorney-general Robert Dean said the changes went a long way to meeting the Liberals' concerns.

"There has certainly been a major backflip," he said. "These are fundamental changes, and effectively this is a new bill."

Dr Dean yesterday held confidential talks with gay activists, who also met the parliamentary secretary for justice, Richard Wynne, yesterday morning.

But Dr Dean would not say whether the party would support the bill next week. His decision to pre-empt the party's initial decision last month prompted a heated public argument inside parliament with deputy Liberal leader Louise Asher.

Dr Dean said he still held some concerns about proposed changes to administration and probate laws, which cover wills.

He is concerned that the partner of someone for five years may be entitled to the entire estate, while the dead person's previous partner would receive nothing.

Victorian Gay and Lesbian Rights Lobby co-convenor Miranda Stewart said wills could be a sticking point when the bill came before parliament.

But she said the opposition was entitled to move its own amendments.

"I think I would have to say I am optimistic that this can go through," she said.

With the support of Ms Davies the government will have enough numbers to force the bill through the lower house. But the opposition controls the numbers in the upper house.

Mr Hulls said many individual Liberal MPs wanted to support the bill, and he said many would consider crossing the floor if the opposition decided to formally block it.

Earlier this week, Ms Davies conceded that the amended bill was still unlikely to get the support of fellow independents Russell Savage and Craig Ingram. She said the opposition was divided and unable to make up its mind which way to go.

"If the Liberal Party does oppose the bill, it won't be expressed as a split in values, but expressed in a technical objection," she said. "But that's a bit of a cover-up."

Dr Dean said the gay movement had wanted to "shift the whole game" on relationships, broadening the definition to people not living together or having no permanence.

"That's where the deception came in," he said. "It was a piece of - I won't say shit, because that will get me into trouble - but it was a piece of garbage.

"If it ever does see the light of day, it will not be as a bill that undermines long-term relationships in the family."

Twenty years after the Hamer government decriminalised homosexual sex in Victoria, in March, 1981, gay lobbyists have put the spin on the proposed changes of equality for gay and lesbian couples with heterosexual de factos.

But heterosexual de facto couples already enjoy most of the same legal rights as married couples, so the changes would effectively place gay couples on a par with married couples under state laws, at least, minus the federal legal recognition of marriage, as well as maintaining the bar on adoption and IVF access.

Ms Davies said the amendments were "in some ways minor" - providing a definition of "domestic partner" based on criteria including sexual activity, cohabitation, mutual interdependence, shared finance and time together, the latter open to judicial interpretation according to which law is being applied.

"Gay and lesbian couples exist, and we wish to encourage people to live in loving, permanent, meaningful relationships, and recognise that those relationships exist, rather than pretend that they don't," she said.

The co-convenor of the Victorian Gay and Lesbian Rights Lobby, Chris Gill, said many people mistakenly believed the proposed legislation was a symbolic grab for special rights, or that discrimination against gays and lesbians was entirely fixed.

He said the lobby had now had two QCs revise the bill, and that changes could be accommodated to rule out any unintended consequences of the proposed law.

Dr Dean said the Liberal Party had always supported outlawing discrimination. But the legislation as previously presented had been "grossly flawed" and he had suffered the "slings and arrows" of opposing the bill.

However, he was pleased that the amendments emphasised the notion of couples cohabitating permanently, and that gay couples claiming domestic partnership because of a child from a previous relationship would have to try to make the new partner take parental responsibility for the child.

Dr Dean said that even if all his concerns were tackled in the amendments - making it a "whole new game" - he could not guarantee whether the partyroom was likely to support the bill.

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