Nyunggai Warren Mundine has lost a preselection battle in the north shore Sydney seat of Bradfield.

The anti-Voice campaigner and prominent Indigenous businessperson lost the vote to Gisele Kapterian.

Guardian Australia reported Ms Kapterian secured more than 200 of the preselection votes, ahead of Mr Mundine on 171, with cardiologist Michael Feneley capturing 16.

Mr Mundine, a Bundjalung, Gumbaynggirr, Yuin and Irish man, served as National President of the Labor Party in 2006-2007, but quit the party in 2012 because, in his words, "it abandoned its own economic reforms and the aspirations of workers and families".

He has lived in the seat of Bradfield for over a decade and told Liberal members he has "demonstrated courage to fight for my convictions" and is "not beholden to factions or people behind the scenes".

"With me, what you see is what you get," he wrote in campaign material, arguing he was "uniquely positioned" to reach voters who haven't voted Liberal before in Bradfield.

Ms Kapterian, a Salesforce executive who had won Liberal preselection for the soon-to-be-abolished seat of North Sydney in 2023, has the support of a number of Liberal moderates, including deputy Liberal leader, Sussan Ley, and former treasurer Joe Hockey, who described her as having the "capacity to be a future leader of the Liberal party".

The Liberals are fighting off the challenge of a growing independent vote in the seat held by senior moderate Paul Fletcher, who announced his retirement last year. There were concerns Mr Mundine's preselection would see them lose the seat to popular teal candidate Nicolette Boele.

Ms Boele, who is backed by teal funding through the Climate 200 vehicle, is reportedly confident of winning Bradfield, a seat Opposition leader Peter Dutton and the Coalition will feel is crucial to hold to win the May election.

She won 20 per cent of the primary vote in the 2022 federal election, cutting Mr Fletcher's margin in the once blue-ribbon Liberal seat to 4.5 per cent.

It is expected she will receive more funding from climate 200 this election.

Bradfield, which encompasses the wealthy suburbs of St Ives and Chatswood in Sydney's north shore, is the only Liberal-held seat to have seen majority vote yes during the Voice referendum.

Mr Mundine said the failed referendum in 2023 - of which he was one of the faces of the no campaign - was "one of the most successful political campaigns in Australian history".

His preselection bid had the vocal backing of key conservative figures, including opposition spokesperson for Indigenous affairs, Jacinta Nampijinpa Price, and former Prime Minister, Tony Abbott.

Multiple reports have surfaced regarding Liberal insiders expressing concern Mr Mundine's views would not resonate with Bradfield residents.