SA Premier Peter Malinauskas apologises for failing to deliver on his promise to 'fix the ramping crisis'

South Australian Premier Peter Malinauskas says there is "no shirking the fact" his government has failed to deliver on its key election promise to fix the ramping crisis — a failure for which he has apologised.

In an interview with ABC's Stateline, Mr Malinauskas also reflected on a "mistake" caused by Health Minister Chris Picton's office sending journalists an email it claimed was from a terminal cancer patient praising the public health system.

The email, sent last Friday to "background" journalists after the man's grieving partner raised concerns about his experience of ambulance ramping, turned out to be from a different man with the same name.

Mr Picton has since apologised and denied the government was playing politics with a person's death.

"What he [Mr Picton] did and the reasons for [him doing] it didn't really make much sense to me at all," the premier said.

"He's owned his mistake, there's no denying it.

The blunder has resulted in one of the most bruising weeks for the Malinauskas government, which has faced sustained scrutiny over its ability to deliver on its 2022 election promise to "fix the ramping crisis".

Mr Malinauskas said the government had tipped more than $1 billion into the health system to address the issue — including by hiring more doctors and increasing hospital beds — leading to some improvements in the time it takes ambulances to arrive at call-outs.

But SA Health data shows ambulances spent 3,616 hours ramped in February, higher than the 2,711 hours in March 2022, when Labor swept to power.

The ramping problem is now significantly worse than it ever was under the Liberals.

"There is no doubt about the fact that we would have liked to have seen, and would have expected to see as a result of all the investments we've made, a far greater reduction in the level of hours people spend on the ramp," Mr Malinauskas said.

Asked if he would apologise for failing to deliver on his promise, the premier said: "I have and I am happy to say it again."

"We would have liked to have seen a far better result," he said.

Premier says polls are 'unrealistic'

If polling is to be believed, voters are unlikely to punish Labor for failing to deliver on its ramping promise.

Several have forecast another Labor landslide victory amid deteriorating support for the Liberals.

Political analysts have previously said that if the polling results played out on election day the Liberal Party could struggle to win a single seat.

But Mr Malinauskas said he did not believe that would be "realistic".

"I frankly detest people who make assumptions around election results," he said.

"I think that does a disservice to the sanctity of the process where every individual with a secret ballot gets to choose who governs the state.

"Elections don't elect oppositions, they elect governments."

Housing Labor's main game

In the final weeks of this election campaign Labor has made cost of living and housing its main policy focuses.

But its ability to make costly election promises has been hampered to an extent by rising debt levels.

Asked how much difference a re-elected Malinauskas government would be able to make on the housing front, given the budget constraints, the premier said: "We have already made a difference."

"We have to get the number of homes being built in South Australia … up to 13,500 per annum to account for a modestly-growing population and the workforce projections that we have with all the job opportunities coming our way," he said.

Mr Malinauskas said Labor would achieve that target by abolishing stamp duty for those aged 60 and over who are choosing to downsize into a new build or off-the-plan apartment under $2 million, releasing more land for housing, and creating a "housing skills package".

"This combines to an accelerated effort on top of what we've already been able to achieve," he said.