The 1956 edition was the twenty-first Australian Grand Prix and only the second to use the Albert Park street circuit — the same location used for the Formula One Australian Grand Prix from 1996 onwards. The rotational system that ordinarily moved the event between Australian states was suspended to capitalise on the international publicity generated by the 1956 Summer Olympics, which were held in Melbourne that year.
The presence of the works Officine Alfieri Maserati team — making its first visit to Australia — elevated the race far above any prior running of the event. The team brought Stirling Moss and Jean Behra, each driving a Maserati 250F. European-based independent competitors Ken Wharton, Peter Whitehead, and Reg Parnell also made the journey; Whitehead and Parnell entered Ferrari 555 F1 cars through Scuderia Ambrosiana. The 22-car field was completed by Australian drivers in a variety of machinery, including private Maserati 250Fs, Cooper-Bristols, and older Talbot-Lagos. Defending Australian champion Jack Brabham was absent.
The race was preceded by a two-week festival opened by the Australian Tourist Trophy sports car race, in which Moss and Behra placed first and second respectively, each in a Maserati 300S.
Stirling Moss claimed pole position and set the race pace from the outset. He and Behra dominated the 80-lap distance, but Moss proved in a class of his own — by the finish he came close to lapping his teammate. Moss crossed the line in 2 hours 36 minutes 15.4 seconds, with Behra 2 minutes 12 seconds in arrears at 2:38:27.4.
Peter Whitehead, driving the Ferrari 555 F1 through Scuderia Ambrosiana, completed the podium in third, one lap down on the Maseratis. Whitehead, who had won the 1938 Australian Grand Prix, finished two full laps clear of the first Australian finisher: Reg Hunt in fourth, driving a private Maserati 250F. Stan Jones placed fifth in another private Maserati 250F, on the same lap as Hunt. Reg Parnell took sixth in the second Scuderia Ambrosiana Ferrari, also on Hunt's lap.
Lex Davison's older Ferrari 625 F1, fitted with a sports car engine, placed seventh, two further laps down. Doug Whiteford's Talbot-Lago T26C was the first non-Italian car home in eighth. Len Lukey's heavily modified Cooper T23 Bristol came ninth; with Brabham absent, it was the best of the Cooper-powered cars in the field. Ken Wharton, the only other European-based entrant, retired his Maserati 250F after completing 19 laps.
Moss's fastest lap of 1:52.2, equivalent to 100.25 mph, established a new lap record for the Albert Park Circuit. He thus claimed pole position, race victory, and fastest lap — a clean sweep that underscored the superiority of the works Maserati effort over the entire field.
The 1956 race's convergence with the Melbourne Olympics transformed a domestic fixture into an international occasion. The appearance of the works Maserati team, then competing at the height of their Grand Prix rivalry with Ferrari and Lancia, gave Australian audiences a direct look at European world-championship machinery of the era — a rarity at a time when the cost of shipping competitive equipment and intercontinental travel made such visits exceptional.
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