Business investment appears to have finally shaken off years of being shackled by the unwinding of the mining investment boom.
New figures show firms have upgraded their expected capital expenditure for the 2017/18 financial year by the biggest margin in eight years to $146 billion.
The report backs the upbeat confidence levels seen in various business surveys, although it is still unclear how quickly such optimism will spill over to wages growth, household income and consumer spending.
"This will be crucial to lifting GDP growth significantly above its current pace of around 2.5 per cent," BIS Oxford Economics head of macroeconomics Sarah Hunter told AAP.
"Unfortunately, with spare capacity still available in the labour market, it's likely to take some time for this to happen and this will keep GDP growth in a holding pattern this year and next."
Commonwealth Bank economist Kristina Clifton said while mining investment is still falling as the last LNG projects are wrapped up, the slump may now be close to a bottom.
"With global growth picking up and commodity prices holding up reasonably well, we may see some more mining companies look to lift capex," she said.
While Thursday's data indicated an upbeat investment outlook for this financial year and next, actual expenditure in the final three months of 2017 proved disappointing.
Overall private capital expenditure declined 0.2 per cent in the December quarter when economists had expected an increase of around one per cent.
It followed three consecutive quarters of increased activity with the September result having been revised to a 1.9 per cent rise from the one per cent originally reported.
It means next Wednesday's national accounts will probably show the economy grew by around 0.5 per cent in in the December quarter for an annual pace of 2.5 per cent.
This would be a slightly slower pace than the 2.8 per cent rate as of the September quarter but in line with the Reserve Bank's forecast released last month.
Economists' preliminary growth forecasts take into account previously released figures showing a pick-up in retail spending, but a sharp drop in construction work, and an indication that exports were a likely drag on growth in the quarter.
Growth forecasts will be finalised after data for business profits and inventories, international trade and government spending are released early next week.
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