Andrew Hastie has confirmed he won’t contest the Liberal party leadership, clearing the path for fellow rightwinger Angus Taylor to challenge Sussan Ley.

After Hastie ended a week of a speculation with a statement on Friday that confirmed he would not put up his hand, a source close to Taylor said it was a “question of when, not if” the shadow defence minister will launch a formal bid to unseat Ley.

Multiple sources said Taylor would not push for a leadership spill when federal parliament returns on Tuesday.

The two men met face-to-face in Melbourne on Thursday but couldn’t reach agreement on who would challenge Ley in the fallout to the second Coalition split in eight months.

But Hastie ended the impasse on Friday afternoon, conceding he doesn’t have the numbers to unseat Ley.

“Over the past few weeks there has been speculation about the future leadership of the Liberal party of Australia,” Hastie said in a statement.

“I’ve previously stated that I would welcome the opportunity to serve my party and our country as leader of the Liberal party.

“But having consulted with colleagues over the past week and respecting their honest feedback to me, it is clear that I do not have the support needed to become leader of the Liberal party.

“On this basis, I wish to make it clear I will not be contesting the leadership of the Liberal party.”

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Hastie’s announcement comes after Ley earlier on Friday gave the Nationals an eight-day window to reunite the Coalition before she pushed ahead with a Liberal-only frontbench.

The opposition leader assigned the old Nationals portfolios to existing Liberal shadow ministers in an acting capacity for the upcoming sitting week, beginning Tuesday.

Ley said if the Coalition was not reformed by 9 February, the beginning of the second sitting week, she would promote six MPs to shadow cabinet and two to the outer shadow ministry.

The decision was endorsed at a meeting on Friday of Ley’s Liberal leadership team, which includes Taylor.

Ley defeated Taylor 29 votes to 25 to win the Liberal leadership after last year’s federal election.