The election was conducted by the Electoral Commission of South Australia (ECSA), an independent body answerable to Parliament.

[2] Four hours after the close of polls, at approximately 10pm ACDT, incumbent Premier Jay Weatherill telephoned Steven Marshall and conceded defeat.

Weatherill subsequently publicly announced that he had conceded, saying, "I'm sorry I couldn't bring home another victory, but I do feel like one of those horses that has won four Melbourne Cups and I think the handicap has caught up with us on this occasion."

"[4][5][6][7] After the SA Best party failed to win a seat in the lower house, Nick Xenophon ruled out a return to federal politics.

Two Federal Senators from South Australia, Cory Bernardi and Nick Xenophon formed new political parties which would contest the State Election.

[17] During the election Xenophon and his SA Best party pushed for a law that Ice users in South Australia will be forced into drug rehabilitation.

[22] The table lists, according to The Poll Bludger website and based on the Nick Xenophon Team's Senate vote performance at the 2016 federal election, the strongest SA Best seats.

[26][27] [28] [29][30] SA Best did, however, secure two upper house positions in the South Australian Legislative Council, with the successful election of Connie Bonaros, the campaign manager, and Frank Pangallo, Xenophon's former media advisor.

[31][32] Following the election, NXT Senator Stirling Griff claimed that polling indicated a 5% drop in SA Best's vote as a direct result of negative advertisements by two major parties as well as the Australian Hotels Association (AHA).

Such did not indicate who he would support in a minority government before he went on medical leave for a brain tumour, diagnosed one week after the election.

Following the 2014 election, Labor went from minority to majority government when Nat Cook won the 2014 Fisher by-election by five votes from a 7.3 percent two-party swing which was triggered by the death of Such.

[41] Frances Bedford resigned from Labor and became an independent in March 2017 after minister Jack Snelling was endorsed for Florey pre-selection as a result of the major electoral redistribution ahead of the 2018 election.

As with the rest of the crossbench, Bedford will continue to provide confidence and supply support to the incumbent Labor government.

[42] Duncan McFetridge resigned from the Liberals and moved to the crossbench as an independent in May 2017 after Stephen Patterson was endorsed for Morphett pre-selection.

[43] Troy Bell resigned from the Liberals and moved to the crossbench as an independent in August 2017 due to criminal financial allegations.

[45] Labor's Nat Cook won the by-election by nine votes with a 7.3 percent two-party swing against the Liberals, resulting in a change from minority to majority government.

[51] ABC psephologist Antony Green described it as "another poor result for the South Australian Liberal Party",[52] following the 2014 Fisher by-election which saw Labor go from minority to majority government.

[41] Following the parliamentary resignation of former Labor Minister Bernard Finnigan on 12 November 2015 following his conviction for accessing child pornography.

[53] SDA secretary Peter Malinauskas filled the Legislative Council casual vacancy in a joint sitting of the Parliament of South Australia on 1 December.

[58][59] The Electoral (Miscellaneous) Amendment Act 2013 introduced set dates for writs for general elections in South Australia.

Seven seats would be renamed − Ashford would become Badcoe, Mitchell would become Black, Bright would become Gibson, Fisher would become Hurtle Vale, Napier would become King, Goyder would become Narungga, while Little Para would once again become Elizabeth.

[61][62][63][64] Upon the release of the draft redistribution, Liberal MP Rachel Sanderson organised the mass distribution of a pro forma document in the two inner metropolitan suburbs of Walkerville and Gilberton, which aimed for residents to use the pro forma document to submit their objection to the commission in support of Sanderson's campaign to keep the two suburbs in her seat of Adelaide, which in the draft would have been transferred to neighbouring Torrens.

[71][72][73][74] Labor objected to the commission's interpretation of the fairness requirements and appealed against it to the Supreme Court of South Australia in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution Act 1934 (SA).

[92][93][91] The first state-level Newspoll to be conducted in two years, in late 2017, did not publish a 2PP figure, claiming that calculating it had become difficult due to the large third-party primary vote of SA Best.