"I feel very satisfied that I've done everything I can and it's time for me to move on," Mr Lennon told reporters in Hobart. "I've given it my best shot."

His decision follows growing pressure on his four-year premiership of Tasmania, which he gained after the sudden death of predecessor Jim Bacon from lung cancer.

In little more than a year Mr Lennon lost two Deputy Premiers to separate scandals, and his insistent backing for the controversial Gunns pulp mill project also contributed to his loss of personal approval to 17pc.

An EMRS poll published last week projected a Liberal win in the State for the first time in eight years.

Mr Lennon's political high point was reached in March 2006 when he won re-election for Labor in his own right, and his successor, expected to be his young deputy David Bartlett, has almost two years before the next State election.

Mr Lennon said he had fulfilled his pledge made upon Mr Bacon's death, to keep restoring the State's economy, and to move the reconciliation agenda forward with Tasmania's Aboriginal people.

His was the first government to give financial compensation to the stolen generation.