Australia crushed 50 minutes of New Zealand resistance in a withering second-half burst to stretch their mid-year Test-winning streak to 14 matches with a 32-12 victory in Canberra
The depleted Kiwis, who lost skipper Simon Mannering two hours before kickoff with a calf strain, gave the Kangaroos all they could handle before the hosts turned it on with four tries in the space of 11 minutes early in the second half.
Greg Inglis started the rot as he scored his 20th try in the green and gold in the 51st minute as Kiwi fullback Josh Hoffman paid dearly for his lack of urgency to get to a ball rolling in the in-goal.
With their gallant effort undone, Kiwi heads dropped and the Australians pounced with Brett Morris, Luke Lewis and Darius Boyd all crossing before the 62nd minute to end the game as a contest.
Justin Hodges added his name to the tryscorers' list six minutes from fulltime before Frank Pritchard scored a consolation four-pointer to complete a night of what might have been for the visitors.
As it was, the final scoreline failed to reflect what was a gallant Kiwi effort with what was a patched up outfit.
Adding to Mannering's late withdrawal, the visitors were already without a spate of top-line stars - Benji Marshall, Sonny Bill Williams, Sam Kasiano, Greg Eastwood and Jeremy Smith all unavailable.
It threatened to be an ugly night for the Kiwis when Cooper Cronk opened Australia's account after just six minutes, but it was nearly all black and white for the remainder of the half.
Three times, the Kiwis claimed what they thought were tries only be denied by the video referee - Alex Glenn's dropped ball over the tryline the costliest with his side dominating proceedings.
Handed one last chance, courtesy of a penalty with less than a minute remaining in the first half, the Kiwis chanced their arm and finally received the approval of referee Ashley Klein - who was in charge of his first Test between the two nations since New Zealand's 2008 World Cup final win.
The Kiwis try after the halftime siren came from the unlikely playmaking source of Pritchard, who grubbered as Billy Slater had an airswing with Hoffman much more eager to pounce on the ball than he proved to be later in the night.