Politics live: Liberal Party meets to decide position on gay marriage in Australia

And that's it from me. What happened?

• a two hour party room meeting rejected any changes to the Turnbull government's same-sex marriage policy;
• the plebiscite legislation - which has already been knocked back by the Senate once - will be brought before Parliament again;
• it is unlikely to be passed because key crossbenchers say they are still opposed to the idea of a plebiscite;
• if that happens, the government says it will pursue a postal vote on marriage equality;
• what happens after that will be discussed by a meeting of Liberal and National Party MPs tomorrow.

My thanks to Andrew Meares and Alex Ellinghausen for their work and to you for reading and commenting.

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Alex, Andrew and I will be back in the morning. Until then, good evening.

And Mark Kenny has this to say about the day's events: "It was the special party room meeting called to fix Malcolm Turnbull's 'special' problem."

"A desperate search by a riven government for unity on an issue about which most electors are unfazed, but which has had party room ideologues threatening civil war and defection."

Political reporter Michael Koziol has written our main story about the meeting.

"The Turnbull government will make a doomed second attempt to enact a plebiscite on same-sex marriage after Liberal MPs rejected an internal push to ditch the policy and allow a free vote," Michael writes.

"If that fails to pass the Senate, as expected, the government is satisfied it can legally conduct a voluntary postal ballot without legislation - a threat it is now imposing on the Senate crossbench."

That's it for the interview.

Mr Entsch is around this sitting fortnight.

In September he goes on a three-month secondment to the United Nations.

Mr Entsch says he can "pretty much guarantee it [a plebiscite] won't be a policy" at the next election.

He says there are always some people who will be against same-sex marriage but attitudes are changing.

Mr Entsch reserves the right to his own course of action but says he's "quite happy to give it [a plebiscite] a go".

Mr Entsch says it's "not necessarily" the case he could go into Parliament and vote with Labor MPs to bring about change.

People are "sick and tired of broken promises" and "they're saying this was a promise that was made to the people".

"There is a very large number that are conflicted - they support me but they want to honour the commitments they made when they went to the election."

Warren Entsch is about to speak to ABC television's 7.30.

"At the end of the day we hoped for a free vote out of this....and we've got a commitment to re-put the plebiscite this week which is fantastic," Mr Entsch says.

He says he was for years the only person in Parliament advocating for equality for gay and lesbian people.

If you've just tuned in, here's a quick recap.

Australia faces a possible postal vote on marriage equality after the Liberal Party rejected an attempt to dump its policy and have a free vote.

After a two-hour meeting, MPs decided to put the plebiscite to the Senate again and, if that fails, hold a postal vote on changing the Marriage Act.

The plebiscite legislation will come before Parliament as soon as this week - but key crossbenchers have already indicated they (still) do not support it.

Mr Entsch reserved the right to cross the floor to legislate same-sex marriage and said he wanted a clear end-date for the issue to be resolved. 

"I want a vote a free vote on this and I reserve my rights," Mr Entsch said.

"This is not something I want to be perpetuated forever; there has to be a conclusion to this. I will make a decision to do what I need to do to get the outcome I want which is marriage equality."
 

Warren Entsch has spoken to reporter Matthew Knott.

"I am disappointed in the outcome. However, I was very pleased with my colleagues for respecting the diversity of views and for that I say 'thank you'."

Mr Entsch is "disappointed" only seven MPs voted for change.

"The postal plebiscite has prickles all over it and could be a disaster." 

What this means for a free vote is very much up in the air. 

Senator Cormann seemed to be saying that would not be decided until tomorrow morning's joint party room meeting - but it is by no means a sure thing.

Tony Abbott has left Parliament House without speaking to reporters.

Opposition Leader Bill Shorten says the outcome of the meeting is "ridiculous".

"I am disappointed for hundreds of thousands of Australians that their Prime Minister has once again let them down."

"The Liberals have spent yet another day arguing over whether or not gay and lesbian Australians should have their relationships judged by everyone else."

"Wages aren't growing, living standards are falling, power prices are through the roof, we've got a housing affordability crisis. But instead of figuring out what to do about all of that - they all sat in a room and argued about marriage equality."

"Another day spent fighting with each other over an issue that we could sort out in five minutes if Mr Turnbull would just let the Parliament do its job and vote on it."

Senator Nick Xenophon says he feels like he's in "groundhog day" having to say - again - he will not be voting for legislation he has already voted against.

The Australian Christian Lobby:

Mr Greenwich says the government has gone "well beyond a joke".

"There will be disappointment from coast to coast tonight"

"We will now likely have another debate on the plebiscite and be reminded why it's such a bad idea."

The co-chair of Australian Marriage Equality, Alex Greenwich says, "the government does not want to do its job - which is to vote through laws".

"The only way we can achieve marriage equality in this Parliament is through a vote in the Parliament."

"They had the opportunity to resolve this matter and they said 'no' - we're going to drag this out."

Senator Cormann says it is up to senators to decide if they want a compulsory attendance plebiscite (the proposal that was brought forward last time) or a postal plebiscite.

(Which is another way of saying - if you think a postal plebiscite is a bad idea then you should vote for the original plebiscite proposal).

Senator Cormann says if the plebiscite vote returns a 'no' result then the government will not support a free vote or a private members' bill.

He will not commit to release the government's legal advice.

Senator Cormann says the legislation is likely to be back in Parliament this week.

If it is defeated, and the postal vote is defeated, the options for action after that - including a free vote - will be discussed in the joint meeting of the Liberal and National parties tomorrow morning.

Senator Cormann says the "government is absolutely committed to keep faith with the Australian people".

"If that were to fail the government believes we have a legal and constitutional way forward to give the Australian people a say," Senator Cormann says.

That would be "through a non legislative, voluntary postal plebiscite".