The election outcome saw a finely balanced House of Representatives, with the three parties each holding around a third of seats − the Protectionists on 26, the Free Traders on 24 and Labour on 22.

This term of parliament saw no changes in any party leadership but did see very significant and prolonged debates on contentious issues − the Protectionist minority government fell in April 1904 to Labour, while the Labour minority government fell in August 1904 to the Free Traders, while the Free Trader minority government fell in July 1905 back to the Protectionists, which continued until the 1906 election and beyond.

The wreck of SS Petriana outside Port Phillip Bay in late November prompted the government's handling of the White Australia policy to become a campaign issue.

Shipwrecked Asian sailors were denied entry to Australia and forced to stay on a crowded tugboat for several days, leading The Argus, Daily Telegraph and The Sydney Morning Herald to accuse the government of cruelty and harming Australia's international reputation.

The three parties that contested the 1901 election also contested the 1903 election, with only the Protectionists changing leaders: Alfred Deakin was chosen as a result of Edmund Barton's appointment as an inaugural judge of the newly constituted High Court of Australia.

Candidates were contesting all 75 House of Representatives and 19 of the 36 Senate seats, a number unchanged from the 1901 election.

The newly created seats were Adelaide, Angas, Barker, Boothby, Grey, Hindmarsh and Wakefield (South Australia) and Bass, Darwin, Denison, Franklin and Wilmot (Tasmania).