Two down, one to go.
The Kookaburras were given a Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer run into the final, but after taking down Germany in the semi-finals they now play Belgium in the gold medal match on Thursday.
Their 3-1 win atoned for their heartbreaking 4-2 defeat to Germany at the same point in London, where the Europeans eventually went on to take gold while Australia claimed their second straight bronze medal.
Colin Batch’s men now take on world No.2 Belgium, the 2016 silver medallists who earlier on Tuesday thumped India 5-2 in hot conditions.
A cheerful John Coates said it all as the final whistle was blown: “Well done Australia”, the Australia Olympic Committee boss yelled out on a number of occasions from the stands.
The Kookaburras, whose only gold medal came in 2004 when Batch was an assistant, have had to do it the hard way by taking down the kings of European hockey, having been starved of playing international opposition in the 18 months leading up to Tokyo.
“We’ve kind of had to do it the hard way,” goal-scorer Tim Brand told News Corp.
“You just mentioned Holland, Germany and now Belgium, some of the top teams in the world, but I think almost in a way it was better to have those hard games, I think it prepared us quite well.
“We didn’t have our best game (in the quarter-finals), but it’s probably better we play Holland rather than a lower team and smash them.
“Winning on shootouts (3-0) grew our confidence and I think it helped we had the belief we could beat a top team like that.
“We carried that forward into this game and we will the next too.”
Blake Govers was the star for the Kookaburras.
His exceptional vision to lob the German defence and find an unmarked Flynn Ogilvie, who belted the ball wide of the goal before Brand deflected it from point-blank range led to the early opening goal.
After the heartbreak of seeing the Hockeyroos bow out in the quarter-finals after an early miss which struck the posts, it was just the confidence-building start the Kookaburras were after in perfect conditions at Oi Hockey Stadium.
“He (Ogilvie) hit it pretty hard,” Brand said.
“I was lucky I was pretty close to the goals because it went straight into the roof. I’m happy with that one.”
Then, having conceded a goal at a short corner, it was Govers again.
The striker firing home from a penalty corner, as he beat the outstretched stick of Tobias Hauke to give Australia a lead going into half time.
“It would have to be my most important goal,” Govers said, whose brother Kieran won everything else but a gold medal during his decorated career.
“Definitely the biggest one.”
Australia survived a late raid, with the Germans taking off their goal-keeper with three minutes remaining as they chased to stay in the goal medal match.
It proved a fatal move.
Lachlan Sharp, having been the culprit by giving away the penalty corner that led to Germany’s only goal to Lukas Windfeder, scored a simple tap in with 92 seconds left to send the Kookaburras into the final.