Star fullback Reece Walsh bagged a hat-trick as Australia crushed Samoa 44-12 on Sunday to book their ticket to the Rugby League World Cup final and stay on track for a fourth consecutive crown.
A five-try first-half blitz at a sold-out Sydney Football Stadium did the damage with the Samoans trailing 26-2 by the break.
Tom Dearden, Jacob Preston, Tom Trbojevic, Bradman Best and Jack Bostock also crossed to deny Samoa revenge for their 30-10 loss to Australia in the 2022 final.
The Kangaroos' reward is a showdown on November 15 in Brisbane with New Zealand, who swept past Tonga 34-10 on Saturday and are the last team other than Australia to lift the silverware in 2008.
That upset snapped a run of six straight titles for Australia, the sport's powerhouse nation that has won 12 of the 16 World Cups since its inception in 1954.
"I thought it was probably the best we'd started this campaign so far," said Australia captain Isaah Yeo.
"I know it's the pressure of these big matches that you need to go out and have your best performance and I thought we did that tonight.
"I feel like we've been building each week and that was a real step in the right direction."
Samoa performed an intense Siva Tau ceremonial dance on a cold evening and came out with all guns blazing, but a promising start quickly evaporated.
"At the start of this journey, we all knew what we were capable of and we're unfortunate tonight," said Samoa skipper Junior Paulo.
"That's a credit to the Aussie boys for turning up the way they did and putting on their performance. It was always going to be tough."
Samoa won a penalty in front of the posts after four minutes and Stephen Crichton made no mistake to give them an early lead.
But it was short-lived with Australia halfback Dearden piercing the defence with ease soon after for a converted try with the Samoa defence nowhere.
A second try quickly followed as the Kangaroos ramped up the pressure, Preston darting over with the Samoa defence again at fault to concede another six-point score.
Winger Trbojevic finished in the corner for their third try after Australia spread the ball the entire width of the field to stretch the lead to 16-2.
And when Walsh dived over for another, and did a backflip in celebration, the writing was on the wall.
Their fifth try, from Best in the corner, sent Australia to the sheds with a commanding advantage and with Samoa down to 12 men after Spencer Leniu was sent to the sin-bin.
Against the odds Samoa opened the second-half with a try when Walsh fumbled a routine catch and it fell into the arms of a grateful Crichton.
But Walsh quickly made amends, spinning through a tackle to dot down again just minutes later, and he grabbed his first international hat-trick after good work from Cameron Munster set him free.
Bostock added their eighth try late on for good measure.
In a preceding game at the same stadium, Australia beat Fiji 30-14 to claim their place in the final of the Women's World Cup, which is being played concurrently.
They also face New Zealand in next weekend's decider.
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