His supporters say he is the “unity” candidate to get the estranged Parliamentary Labour Party back into a functioning relationship with the growing membership base and leadership.
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Before applications closed, Mr Smith told Sky News he had offered to make Jeremy Corbyn the party’s president or chairman in an attempt to get him to step down.
The enormous figure came as it emerged Mr Smith had won the nominations of at least 162 of the party’s 230 MPs.
That leaves Corbyn, who has lost the support of most elected Labour members of parliament but remains popular with activists, up against Smith, his former work and pensions policy chief.
Asked by Channel 4 News presenter Cathy Newman if she could continue as an MP under Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership, she said: “I think I would find it incredibly hard to be honest”.
Karin Smyth, MP for Bristol South, said Walsh MP Mr Smith will have her “100 per cent” backing.
The 48-hour period for people to sign up as a registered Labour Party supporters closed at 17:00 BST, when the deadline for contenders in the election also passed.
Another challenger, Angela Eagle, dropped out of the race on Tuesday when it was clear she was short of endorsements from Labour lawmakers to continue.
“In my years in the House I’ve long heard the Labour party asking what the Conservative Party does for women – well, (it) just keeps making us prime minister”.
There were echoes of Margaret Thatcher, as Mrs May took Mr Corbyn to task after he said that “six years of Government austerity” had failed.
There isn’t another politician in the Labour Party capable of doing that.
He also sought to reach out to Mr Corbyn’s supporters in the party, insisting that he could also be their champion.
“We have a Labour party at the moment that is not working”.
The poll indicated that Mr Corbyn’s margin of victory may be slightly narrower if just Mr Smith stood against him – 56% for Mr Corbyn and 34% for Mr Smith – but the result would still be a convincing victory for the incumbent.
“It will take some time to get there, but of course now we have the added aspect of those controls that we can bring in relation to people moving from the European Union”, she said.
Mr Smith said he had had his arm twisted in the decision to run against Mr Corbyn, whom he had previously supported.
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In a further sign of discontent, Labour MPs heckled Corbyn in the Commons last night after he failed to back his own party’s position of supporting the renewal of the Trident UK’s nuclear weapons system.
