Warren Pickering, who leads One Nation in Victoria and is running for the seat of Pakenham, says the major parties are freezing his party out of the leaders' debates, and he is not mincing words about it.

"For One Nation not to be invited to speak at these debates is a detriment to our democratic system," Pickering said in a television interview on Friday. "We believe they are undemocratic in their approach."

He went further, suggesting the reluctance had less to do with tradition than with nerves. "Maybe they're terrified of real people from the real world. I'm only surmising here," he said.

According to news reports, the Coalition will not agree to any debate that includes him, while Labor will not take part unless he is. The result is a stalemate.

Opposition Leader Jess Wilson is sticking with the old two-way arrangement. "We've seen at previous elections, the traditional format for the debate is between the premier and the opposition leader, and I tend to think that's the right format," she said on Wednesday. When it was put to her that the polls point to a three-way contest, she complained of plenty of "debate about debates", which she found "pretty boring".

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Premier Ben Carroll, who took over after Jacinta Allan resigned on 28 July, has taken the opposite line. "I'm prepared to debate any leader, unlike the Liberal leader who's playing hide and seek on the debates," he said.

Either way, the numbers make the "traditional format" argument hard to take seriously. The Resolve Strategic poll of 1,000 Victorians, taken from 6 to 10 October and published on 12 October, put the Coalition on 28 per cent of the primary vote, Labor on 25 and One Nation on 23, and according to a published poll analysis of the same survey, Pickering's preferred premier rating rose six points to 14. The RedBridge/Accent survey taken from 2 to 8 October had the Coalition on 30, with Labor and One Nation level on 24.

"One Nation, if we're representing 25% of the will of the Victorian people, that's 25% of 6.681 million Victorians," Pickering said.

Pickering is right to be angry. A party pulling close to a quarter of the vote has earned a seat at the lectern, yet the one leader who actually wants to argue his case in front of voters is the one left waiting in the wings. Wilson's refusal looks like a frontrunner protecting a lead rather than a leader confident in her plan. Wilson seems unwilling to meet Pickering on policy, and Labor's enthusiasm looks more tactical than principled. Victorians are entitled to wonder whether Labor's new love of open contests is about democracy or about the chance to pin Wilson to One Nation on live television.