There are occasions when major appointments or decisions cannot wait until after the election, and the opposition would normally be consulted about them, ensuring a bipartisan approach.
Caretaker provisions explicitly recognise that after the dissolution of parliament, the business of government must continue and that "ordinary matters of administration" must be addressed.
That can be delayed by the counting of votes in closely contested seats or by the processes by which ministers are chosen under the relevant party's rules.
An exception came in 1972, when Gough Whitlam had himself and his deputy, Lance Barnard, sworn in as a two-man government on 5 December, only three days after the election, as soon as Labor's victory over the Coalition was beyond doubt.
More recently, in 2022, Anthony Albanese was sworn in just two days after Labor's electoral victory, so he could attend the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue as prime minister.
In June 1914, a double dissolution election was called for 5 September, with the incumbent government duly going into caretaker mode.