Wallabies captain Stirling Mortlock is back in camp with the Australian side, confident his injured knee will be right for the first Test of the northern tour.

Mortlock missed the ill-fated Tri-Nations series with the injury, but says his rehabilitation is on track to have him on the park when Australia meet the All Blacks in Tokyo on October 31.

"The knee feels really good, I did a good number of runs last week on it and pushed it a fair bit," Mortlock told reporters as the Wallabies went into camp in Sydney on Monday.

"The plan is to ramp it up again this week but I still probably won't be training with the squad at this stage.

"We're planning to be definitely right by the first Test in Tokyo.

"We'll be progressing into full training in the next few weeks so that hopefully I can give myself a good chance of preparing for that first Test match."

Mortlock is one of several injury concerns for coach Robbie Deans ahead of the grand slam tour.

Lock Nathan Sharpe, James Horwill and Phil Waugh are others on the list, while prop Benn Robinson suffered a groin strain on Monday.

Digby Ioane and Mitchell Chapman are returning from shoulder reconstructions.

Deans is more hopeful than confident all will be ready when the team flies out on October 24.

"There are some who may never be right, there'll be some who'll be right prior to that, I'd like to think we'll have no one who won't be ready to go at that point," he said.

Brought to you by AAP © 2024 AAP