Olympic champions Australia has been knocked out of medal contention at the women's water polo World Cup after suffering a demoralising 9-3 loss to Canada in Perth.

The best result the host nation can now achieve is fifth after Australia's shortcomings in front of goal were again evident as it failed to convert a host of chances in contrast to Canada's clinical finishing.

After falling 5-0 behind, Australian skipper Naomi Castle and Jo Fox gave the crowd a brief hope of comeback with two quick goals.

But the deficit was too much to make up, and it was Canada who progressed to the semi-finals to face the United States.

The hosts will now prepare for the play-off for fifth tomorrow against the loser of the second quarter final between Italy and Hungary.

Local hero, goalkeeper Emma Knox, returned to the Australian starting line-up after being rested in their last clash against the US, but within a minute was picking the ball out of the net.

Ann Dow's left handed shot flew into the bottom corner to put Australia on the back foot.

Susan Gardiner then extended Canada's lead after sloppy defensive work and skipper Johanne Begin compounded Australia's misery to blow the deficit out to 3-0.

Further goals from Andrea Dewar and Marie Luc Arpin threatened to turn the contest into a rout, until Olympians Castle and Fox gave the scoreline some respectability.

But Campbell completed a hat-trick and Begin scored again to make the scoreline a fair reflection of the gulf between the teams.

Rana Tito scored Australia's late consolation goal.

In an earlier game, Greece won the play-off for seventh with a comprehensive 7-1 win over Kazakhstan.

The tournament's youngest player, 17 year-old Kelina Kantzou, took her goal tally to six in four games with a double against Kazakhstan while Stavroula Kozompoli scored a hat-trick.

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