The single leading cause of death in Australia is heart disease, according to 2016 data released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics on Wednesday.
However, the number and rate of death from heart disease continues to decline.
Heart disease has been Australia's biggest killer since the early part of the 20th century but is expected to be overtaken by dementia within five years.
While death rates from heart disease and stroke have decreased, other diseases such as dementia have continued to increase, with dementia now the leading cause of death of Australian women.
Suicide is the leading cause of death among people 15-44 years of age and remains the leading cause of premature mortality in Australia.
The infant mortality rate is at a record low at 3.1 deaths per 1,000 live births.
Cancer was the cause of almost one third of Australian deaths in 2016 with lung cancer accounting for most cancer deaths.
There were 158,504 deaths in Australia in 2016 and a corresponding standardised death rate of 5.4 per 1,000 people.
