Karmichael Hunt hopes the Wallabies have learned from their Dunedin heartbreak and put the All Blacks away on Saturday night if they get the chance.
Australia went achingly close to ending their long winless drought across the Tasman in August, but coughed up a late Beauden Barrett try to lose 35-29 and let the Test match - and series - slip through their grasp.
An engaged television onlooker at the time due to injury, Hunt saw a team that ultimately didn't back their gameplan when the clutch moments arrived.
Now back in the squad after recovering from his ankle problem, the 30-year-old has sounded a reminder to his teammates - if they needed one ahead of this weekend's third Test at Suncorp Stadium - that when it comes to the All Blacks, there is zero margin for error.
"You'd definitely hope that we'd learn from that last couple of minutes in New Zealand," Hunt said.
"The one thing about this playing group is that they always review their performances and always want to try and get better so if it does come to the point where we are ahead with five or 10 minutes to go, you'd definitely hope the boys are going to understand what's required against the All Blacks.
"From an outsider looking in - I wasn't in camp - but defensively, (if we'd have) just continued to back our system in those last couple of minutes, I don't think they get through there.
"The All Blacks seem to find spots of weaknesses all throughout the field so you have to be on your guard right across the field. They can snatch it right at the death."
The Wallabies are unbeaten in their last four matches but only two of those were wins, both over Argentina.
The others were two draws with South Africa, home and away, in which the Australians either wasted their opportunities to win or couldn't hold back a resurgent opposition.
Aside from the opening 40 minutes of the first Bledisloe Cup Test in Sydney, they've actually been reasonably consistent - which is why outgoing scrum coach Mario Ledesma is confident they can spring an upset in Brisbane.
"We're starting to see the fruits of a lot of hard work - physically, what we did after June, and technically, what we've been doing the last couple months," Ledesma said.
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