LCpl MacKinney's body was flown into RAAF Amberley base aboard a C-17 Globemaster at 4.30pm (AEST) on Monday.
Colleagues and family were at the base for the arrival of the 28-year-old's coffin, draped in the Australia flag and with a wreath laid on top.
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LCpl MacKinney, from the 6th Battalion Royal Australian Regiment, was killed during an intense firefight with Taliban insurgents in the western part of Oruzgan province last Tuesday.
He is survived by his wife, Beckie, three-year-old daughter Annabell and an unborn son.
LCpl MacKinney is the 21st Australian soldier to die in Afghanistan, and the 10th this year.
He is also the sixth Brisbane-based soldier killed in Afghanistan since June.
Private Grant Kirby, 35, and Private Thomas Dale, 21, were killed by an explosive device in the Baluchi Valley on August 21.
Three others - Private Nathan Bewes, 23, Sapper Jacob Moerland, 21, and Sapper Darren Smith, 25 - have died in action since June 7.
Australia's annual Legacy Week appeal, which raises money for the families of fallen soldiers, began on Sunday.
