Chris Latham and Drew Mitchell also crossed twice, while Nathan Sharpe, Adam Ashley-Cooper, George Smith and Adam Freier got on the scoreboard. Stirling Mortlock kicked 20 points, while Matt Giteau added a further three conversions.

Kousei Ono notched a consolation penalty in the first half for Japan, who rested most of their first-choice players for the match.

The Australians, rusty early on having not had a competitive game for seven weeks, were happy to keep it in their forwards in the first half, despite it being a day made for running rugby.

After squandering some early half-chances, they relied on the kicking of Mortlock, who knocked over two penalties to nudge them ahead.

Once they had established themselves on the scoreboard Austalia slipped into their groove and proceeded to demolish Japan.

There will be tougher tests to come for the 1991 and 1999 champions, starting with Wales next week.