A stunning 90 metre effort capped by a diving Brent Tate after the fulltime siren completed a 33-10 win by Australia at Brisbane's Suncorp Stadium.

The result knocked a gutsy Great Britain out of the Tri Nations tournament and sets up an Australia-New Zealand final at Aussie Stadium next Saturday night.

Tate hadn't had much luck throughout the match, twice being denied a try by either desperate defence or butter fingers when he looked certain to score.

But he more than made up for his gaffes when he gobbled up a last gasp Karmichael Hunt kick to score what could arguably be the Tri Nations' best try.

The 44,358-strong crowd seemed far from impressed by a far from cohesive Australia despite the scoreline, at one stage resorting to starting a Mexican wave to keep themselves amused.

But Kangaroos forward Nathan Hindmarsh brought them to their feet when he broke free of the British defence after the full-time siren, sparking a movement that included three sets of hands and covered almost the entire field before Tate touched down.

It was a fitting finale to the six tries to two victory in front of the biggest Brisbane rugby league crowd since 1966 (45,057).

The odds were firmly stacked against Great Britain.

They had not strung back to back wins against Australia since 1970 and had not tasted victory at Brisbane since 1962 - a string of eight straight losses.

Their cause had not been helped by match-winning halfback Sean Long sensationally leaving the tour this week due to "personal reasons", setting the rumour mill in full spin.

Certainly Great Britain appeared distracted as the Kangaroos jumped to an ideal start.

Australia led 18-4 at halftime but Great Britain had its moments, namely in the 29th minute when the visitors opened their account in unlikely style.

Kangaroos halfback Johnathan Thurston attempted a one-on-one strip on British bench utility Lee Gilmour, catapulting the ball 15m towards the Australian line.

The odd bounce of the ball wrong-footed Kangaroos Karmichael Hunt and Nathan Hindmarsh, opening the way for pivot Danny McGuire to toe the ball on for himself to score in front of a hushed Suncorp Stadium.

However, Australia regained the momentum when Hunt crashed over in the 32nd minute after a Thurston bust adding to first half tries to Justin Hodges (4m) and Mark Gasnier (7m).

Great Britain looked to have dropped its bundle again when the kick re-start for the second half went out on the full.

Two minutes later Kangaroos skipper Darren Lockyer wrapped around Mark O'Meley and strolled over the line.

Then Australia faltered.

After giving away penalties and making uncharacteristic errors, Australia finally clicked when Gasnier sliced down the right sideline before offloading to Tate - only to be bundled into touch by a desperate Gareth Raynor in the 45th minute.

It was the second time Tate was denied a try after the Brisbane winger coughed up the ball in open space down the right sideline in the 24th minute, again after good work by Gasnier.

Great Britain then made it interesting when impressive backrower Gareth Hock delivered a trademark one handed offload for Keith Senior to crash over to make it 22-10 with 21 minutes left.

However, Lockyer steadied the ship with a 73rd minute field goal before Thurston set up reserve backrower Anthony Tupou down the left sideline four minutes later.

But the highlight was to come thanks to Tate's heroics.

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