The Junior Wallabies face New Zealand in a must-win game in the under-20s world rugby championships in France after a 54-19 victory over Japan.
Australia's second game win moves them into number two position in pool A with six points, behind New Zealand on 10 points.
Wales is in third place in the pool followed by Japan.
A win on Friday against the Kiwis would see Australia vie for a top four finish and the semi finals.
Head coach Jason Gilmore said the side fought hard to beat Japan but noted they were down on energy in the middle of the first half.
"The guys are building confidence in what they're doing. When you work hard you can get points quickly like we did in the back end of that game.
"We need to improve our patches of inconsistencies. We played a bit too much in our own half.
"We know when we exit we have the attack to put points on."
Semisi Tupou and Mack Hansen scored tries early for the Australians, taking the side to a 14-0 lead before Japan countered with two tries to reduce the margin to 14-12.
Australia had a healthy lead of 28-12 at half-time thanks to the efforts of forwards Michael Wood and Efi Maa'afu before a try from Matt McTaggart and a double from Ryan Lonergan brought up the half century.
Japan scored a late try to take the final score to 54-19.
