Plant hormones, mainly abscisic acid (ABA) and gibberellin (GA), and environmental factors such as temperature are among the most important factors regulating seed germination or preharvest sprouting. To gain insights into the molecular mechanisms underlying the role of ABA and GA in mediating wheat seed response to low temperature conditions, this study examined tissues specific changes in the expression patterns of ABA and GA metabolism and signaling genes, and their endogenous levels during seed imbibition at low temperature condition. Low temperature inhibited the germination of wheat seeds; however, this effect was alleviated by treatment with exogenous bioactive GA and/or ABA biosynthesis inhibitor. The germination inhibitory effect of low temperature was found to be associated with higher ABA level in the embryo and endosperm, and this was accompanied by upregulation of ABA biosynthesis genes, TaNCED1 and TaNCED2. Relative to the observed in the control seeds, the expression level of ABA catabolic genes, TaCYP70A1 and TaCYP707A2, in both tissues also decreased within few hours of imbibition at low temperature although their expression was enhanced as imbibition continued. The upregulation of ABA signalling genes in the embryo (TaPYL5, TaSnRK2, TaABI3 and TaABI5) and endosperm(mainly TaSnRK2) tissues suggest that low temperature increases seed ABA sensitivity. On the other hand, low temperature reduced the expression level of the key GA biosynthetic gene, TaGA3ox2, and GA contents in embryos and endosperms tissues of imbibing seeds with no effect on the expression levels of GA catabolic genes, GA2oxs. Upregulation of the expression of TaRHT1, which encodes DELLA protein of wheat, in the embryonic tissues by low temperature implies a decrease in GA sensitivity. Our results overall show the involvement of both biosynthesis and signalling pathways of ABA and GA in regulating the inhibition of wheat seed germination low temperature.