The Diamonds have made an ominous start to their Commonwealth Games campaign with a thumping 77-goal win over Barbados.
In the first step of their hunt for netball gold, Australia never looked troubled, turning in a slick, fast-paced performance headlined by a dominant first half and ultimately prevailed 95-18.
Goal shooter Gretel Bueta starred, shooting 44 goals from 48 attempts and forming a dynamic first-half combination with Steph Wood (10/15 for the match) to set up the victory.
"We started to see some variation in the set-ups and I think our intent was pretty good, our scoring continued to build," coach Stacey Marinkovich said.
"We talked about respecting the opposition and the best way you can do that is actually going and playing your best netball.
"Whilst the score was what it was, we still had to keep pushing and drive standards because you've obviously got to keep taking steps forward."
Australia hammered home the first four goals of the game before Barbados got off the mark, with Bueta driving the Diamonds to a 25-4 advantage at quarter-time and 52-9 lead at the main break,
"We've been tested, having played games against each other," Bueta, who made her Games debut, told reporters.
"Courto (Courtney Bruce) and Jo (Weston) and Sarah (Klau) have been putting us through our paces at training and I was actually excited that we weren't going to have to play against them for once."
For all of Australia's dominance on the court, they were far from the crowd's favourites, with the NEC Arena spectators delighting in every Barbados goal.
In the dying moments of the first half Barbados goalkeeper Shonette Azore-Bruce had to be assisted from the court after landing heavily and injuring her ankle, though she later returned.
At half-time Marinkovich made a plethora of changes, including replacing Bueta and Wood with Cara Koenen (35/38) and Kiera Austin (6/6).
As a result, Australia were less fluid in the second half but still eased to victory.
Marinkovich had flagged rotations would be on the cards throughout the pool games and ultimately used every player except mid-courter Paige Hadley.
Marinkovich said the Diamonds had taken a "bigger picture" approach to Hadley, who has been recovering from a leg injury, but she was likely to feature in Saturday's game against Scotland.
