Australia Men's skipper Henry Hutchison was proud of his side's rebound to defeat New Zealand 12-10 to claim third in Perth.
Josh Turner's smart quick tap was the winning moment for the hosts, diving under the posts to the delight of the HBF Park faithful.
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It came after their bid for three straight Finals ended at the hands of South Africa, who took out the title with a 21-19 win over Fiji.
"It's always tough coming off a semi-final loss," Hutchison said.
"We were really disappointed with our process against South Africa. We just weren't clinical enough, so to bounce back and beat the Kiwis twice in a weekend, we haven't done that in a while, so really proud to do that and especially at home."
Turner was the player of the match for the Australians, creating the first try with an electric run to find Jayden Blake in the corner.
As the temperature continued to rise, both sides found themselves in a scuffle on half-time when Kele Lasaqa won a turnover and delivered a palm to the face of Hutchison, sparking both sides.
Both men went to the bin, and the Kiwis' strike weapon, Frank Vaenuku, delivered to put them in front.
The final moments saw the Australians throw everything at the Kiwi defence, who were eventually down to six after Kitiona Vai went to the bin.
This provided Turner with the space to strike after another penalty, backing up their previous pool win yesterday.
The third-place finish keeps Australia in touch with the top four, with Hutchison pleased at the continual growth after last week's fifth-place finish.
"We had a big focus on week two being a better week for us in this block,
"We started in Dubai with second and then fell off in Cape Town, so we really focused on being consistent and to go better than week one was really pleasing."
Australia 12 (Tries: Turner, Blake; Cons: Dowling) def New Zealand 10
