I have had a similar issue, my photos uploaded just fine, however upon doing my husbands application it just kept saying photo uploading and I put this down to really bad internet.
I reapplied a few more times with the same issue and I was surprised to find out a few days later that I received an email requesting payment, however they wanted 250 USD for my husband and 100 USD for myself.
After an eternity of phone calls and sending emails, noone gets back to me. I have resorted now to contacting Sri Lanka visa agencies to see what they suggest because I cannot even make an appointment at the visa offices, which I believe is required.