The tournament was held in various cities across Australia, and was contested from 7 March through to 13 April 2003.

[1] VIS Vipers won the tournament for the first time after defeating QLD Scorchers 4–3 in penalties, after the final finished as a 3–3 draw.

[2][3] The 2003 Women's Australian Hockey League consisted of a single round robin format, followed by classification matches.

The first four rounds of the pool stage comprised two-legged fixtures between states.

As a result, matches in rounds five to seven of the pool stage were worth double points, due to the single-leg format.