[1] Perhaps as evidence of this, then ACTU President Bob Hawke (elected to parliament in the election as the member for Wills) and then Premier of New South Wales Neville Wran featured heavily in the campaign, almost as heavily as Hayden.

In the election, Labor finished only 0.8 percent behind the Coalition on the two-party vote—a four-percent swing from 1977.

However, due to the uneven nature of the swing, Labor came up 12 seats short of a majority, giving the Coalition a third term in government.

In the subsequent term, the government delivered budgets significantly in deficit, and Fraser was challenged for the Liberal leadership by Andrew Peacock.

The Australian Democrats made further gains, winning the balance of power in the Senate.