The bold Matildas will tackle world champions Japan without fear in Sunday's Asian Women's Cup final.
Interim coach Alen Stajcic has put forward a compelling case to guide the reinvigorated Australian team right through to the World Cup in Canada next year after they beat South Korea 2-1 in their semi-final in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam on Thursday night.
And such is their poise and attacking confidence, the Matildas aren't doubting they can successfully defend their Asian title despite the big challenge posed by Japan in the decider.
Japan were forced to go to extra time to extract a 1-0 semi-final win over eight-times champions China.
And the Australians will take added confidence from their previous clash in their first match when they went 2-0 up against the world champions before recording a 2-2 draw.
"We have a little bit of an edge for the final given Japan had extra time, but of course they are world champs so we face a massive challenge on Sunday," said Stajcic.
But he was not hiding his delight at his team's winning effort against a South Korea team that had not conceded a goal in the tournament while scoring more than any other team.
"I think this was our best performance of the tournament," he said.
"We've got so many good attacking players and we saw that (against South Korea).
"We created nine or 10 really good chances, we only scored two but I thought we dominated the majority of the game.
"I'm ecstatic."
The decisive moment for Australia came 14 minutes from fulltime as midfielder Elise Kellond-Knight found the perfect time to score her first international goal.
She delivered a low free-kick from near the sideline which crept past the far post after deceiving both the defence and goalkeeper.
Katrina Gorry had given Australia a perfect start to the second half with a superb strike from outside the penalty area for her third goal in as many matches.
However Korea drew level within a matter of minutes as Park Eun Sun netted from the penalty spot following a questionable spot-kick awarded against Michelle Heyman.
Stajcic said the team's attacking mindset paid off.
"They worked so hard, they were disciplined, they attacked well, they were positive the whole game, even after the penalty they just got on with it and didn't sit back and wait at 1-1.
"We wanted to go out and win the game and I said that would be our philosophy, we're going to go out and try to win games rather than sit back and try not to lose."
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