In the fight for marriage equality, she is the behind-the-scenes campaigner who has almost single-handedly pushed local government to put the issue on their agenda.

Last week the City of Melbourne passed a unanimous motion in favour of marriage equality, becoming one of more than 40 local councils across Australia to take such a step.

Ms Farrell, a 61-year-old councillor from City of Greater Geelong, was instrumental in many of these decisions.

"Sometimes I just cold call councillors by phone, or email them to take a leadership role. I always try to make the contact personal. It's about providing support, never shaming or name-calling," she said.

Ms Farrell offers local authorities a template motion, sample media releases and background information about community support for same-sex marriage.

After motions are passed councils are encouraged to write to their local state and federal members, which she hopes will increase pressure on them to support a free vote on marriage equality.

While she is not paid by Australian Marriage Equality – the lobby group for legislative change – she is supported by its national convenor Rodney Croome​.

But as more councils come on board, questions are being raised over why they are choosing to get involved in an issue they have no legislative power to influence.

Federal Liberal MP Sharman Stone has argued that local government should stick to "roads, rates, rubbish and planning decisions" and that it was inappropriate and unnecessary to wade into the marriage equality debate.

However, Mr Croome said councils were simply doing what hundreds of business and community organisations have done – backing a change that benefits the people they serve.

"Local government support for marriage equality is vital for achieving the reform because it highlights how strong community support has become and how out of step too many federal politicians continue to be."

Ms Farrell, who helped her own council pass a motion supporting marriage equality in July last year, believes it is a "fundamental human rights issue".

"I don't have a gay son or a gay daughter, it's just part of my role as a councillor to support the well-being of our community so it's a no-brainer that supporting the LGBTI people of your community is your job."

But not every council is receptive. In September, the Shire of Campaspe in Echuca, northern Victoria, rejected a motion brought by councillor Adrian Weston who had argued that marriage equality was supported by 70 per cent of the population and local government should play an advocacy role by publicly supporting it.

Similar motions have also been rejected in Launceston, Noosa and Dubbo. The Greater Shepparton Council passed a motion of support in July, reversing a decision taken three months earlier.

Campaspe Mayor Leigh Wilson argued against his council taking a similar position, saying it was a "waste of time and resources" and there was no strong push from their constituents to pass it.

During a heated public meeting, councillor Neil Pankhurst also spoke against the motion, saying it had no impact on how council delivered services and had not been led by members of the community.

"Nobody is contacting me asking us to take a position on this but plenty of people are asking us why we're getting into this space," he said.

"The fact that this is a cut-and-paste from the Shepparton motion is a concern to me and would indicate that it's a political game rather than actually something that's been driven by the local community."

Rohan Leppert​, Greens councillor at the City of Melbourne, said that while Jan Farrell had helped with the motion he brought forward she had not instigated it.

More than 200 submissions from the public were received, predominantly in favour of the move.

"This argument that it's not local government's role is only coming out because it's a moral campaign against marriage equality but not one of the councillors ran that argument when we had the debate."

Martyn Iles, acting managing director of the Australian Christian Lobby which opposes changes to marriage laws, said people could have their say in a plebiscite.

"Going to the community is the right course and these motions clearly aren't doing that and I think it's right that we wait and let the community have their say."

While the majority of councils passing motions have been in Victoria, with a handful in NSW and Tasmania, for Ms Farrell the next frontier is Queensland, which will hold council elections in March.

"For federal members who say this isn't an issue in my electorate, when they see councils stepping up it will at least make them consider that their personal conservatism isn't the be all and end all."