Former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull has declined to comment on the Wentworth by-election, as postal vote counting continues today.
Mr Turnbull returned to Sydney with his wife Lucy yesterday morning.
The Turnbulls left for the United States almost immediately after the August leadership spill that toppled him as prime minister.
They flew home after a brief stop in Singapore to visit their son, Alex, who was a strong and persistent critic of the Liberals in the by-election.
Mr Turnbull was criticised for not offering stronger support for Liberal candidate Dave Sharma.
Speaking to media outside his Point Piper home for the first time since returning, Mr Turnbull said he was no longer engaged in politics.
"We are yet to see the results in Wentworth, but as I said when I left the office of Prime Minister, I am out of partisan politics," he said.
"I will continue to have things to say about important matters of public interest, but I'm not engaged in politics any longer. I'm retired."
Meanwhile, the Australian Electoral Commission is continuing to count Wentworth by-election postal votes.
Independent candidate Kerryn Phelps is more than 1,600 votes ahead of the Liberals.
The AEC completed a recount of polling booth votes yesterday.
Mr Turnbull was a popular local member, holding the seat with a hefty margin of over 17 per cent before resigning from Parliament shortly after the leadership coup.
After the scale of the swing against Mr Sharma became clear on Saturday, Prime Minister Scott Morrison linked the result to the party's change of leader and said it had paid a "big price".
Voter anger over the ousting of Mr Turnbull part-way through his term was also cited by Mr Sharma yesterday when he said Australians were "sick of this".
Mr Turnbull received criticism from some former colleagues, including former prime minister Tony Abbott, who claimed he was not active enough in the Wentworth campaign.
