More than one in five voters across South Australia put the anti-immigration party first on their ballot paper, based on Sunday morning counts, leaving it second only to Labor, which returned to power in a landslide victory.
Federal minister Chris Bowen said Premier Peter Malinauskas had cemented his place as a "Labor great" with the size of his landslide win and his role in advocating for national reforms, including Australia's world-first social media age restrictions.
The election-night boost delivered One Nation two upper-house seats, including for state leader and former federal senator Cory Bernardi, while it was also in the running for at least two lower-house seats.
Senior Liberal and federal frontbencher Anne Ruston, whose party had only secured four state seats with a handful more too close to call, said her colleagues needed to learn "sobering lessons" from the result.
"The Liberal Party has got a lot of work to do to rebuild the trust of Australians," she told Sky News on Sunday.
"I absolutely believe that we can do that. The values of the Liberal party will resonate, and do resonate with Australians.
"We just haven't been telling our story very well."
One Nation's result was its best at any poll since the 1998 Queensland election, but some voter surveys have put its federal support higher than the 21.6 per cent in first preferences so far secured in South Australia.
Senator Ruston suggested the right-wing party was unlikely to maintain that level of support.
"We've seen the rise and fall of One Nation on numerous occasions around the country," she said.
But senior state and federal Labor figures warned no one could be complacent about the political threat Pauline Hanson's party posed.
"We've got to look at those grievances and respond with solutions," federal minister Amanda Rishworth said.
"That's not something One Nation offers up."
Speaking on election night, Senator Hanson said the rest of Australia would be watching the state result ahead of a federal by-election in former Liberal leader Sussan Ley's seat of Farrer, and the Victorian state election later in 2026.
One Nation is polling well in Farrer, a regional seat covering a large swathe of southern NSW.
The party's sole MP in federal parliament's lower house, Barnaby Joyce, conceded winning seats could be challenging despite One Nation out-polling the coalition.
Preferences have generally flowed away from the right-wing party in the SA vote.
"That's a good example to the Australian people that if you want the change... you've got to put One Nation first," the Nationals defector said.
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