Labor says it could use parliamentary tactics to bring about a vote on same-sex marriage, days after it secured the first loss by a majority government in the lower house in more than 50 years.

Opposition infrastructure spokesman Anthony Albanese said Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull's government had lost control of the Parliament and there was an opportunity to secure a vote for a private members' bill on same-sex marriage.

Labor succeeded in exploiting the government's slim majority in the House of Representatives on Thursday night when it used the absence of several senior ministers to win three procedural votes and almost secure a majority for its call for a royal commission into the banking industry.

The victory rattled the government, with Mr Turnbull saying ministers Michael Keenan, Christian Porter and Peter Dutton had been embarrassed and humiliated by leaving early.