Des Corcoran Labor David Tonkin Liberal State elections were held in South Australia on 15 September 1979.

Dunstan also resigned from parliament, and his seat was retained for Labor by Greg Crafter at the by-election in March 1979.

Spurred by positive opinion polls, and seeking to escape the shadow of Dunstan by gaining a mandate of his own, Corcoran called a snap election, without informing the party apparatus.

The Liberal majority was pared back even further after the Court of Disputed Returns struck down the result in Norwood.

The court found that a Liberal Party advertisement in an Italian language newspaper, which described Liberal candidate Frank Webster as "your representative" ("il vostro deputato"), gave the false impression that Webster was already the sitting member.