New coach Les Kiss believes a shorthanded South Africa will be "hungry" and provide a litmus test on Sunday for an Australia team hoping to return to prominence ahead of next year's home World Cup.
The Wallabies have made a promising start under the leadership of Kiss, who replaced Joe Schmidt in July, beating Japan twice and then securing a win and a draw to clinch a maiden away series against Argentina.
However, they face the daunting prospect of taking on the world No. 1-ranked South Africa, who have won five of their past six meetings.
Their chances of an upset in Perth have improved after the Springboks made 13 changes to their starting line-up from their win over the All Blacks in Baltimore this month.
Kiss remained wary of the two-time defending World Cup champions, who will still field an experienced line-up despite the wholesale changes.
"They'll be hungry without a doubt," Kiss told reporters on Friday.
"They've got 10 World Cup winners. This is a big test team.
"Everyone knows they go three, four deep in every position.
"We know it's going to be tough, hard yakka this weekend, but this is our backyard... let's go and make sure we show up."
'BEST IN THE BUSINESS'
Kiss, 61, has taken over as head coach of an international team for the first time in his long coaching career.
He has not been afraid to make left-field decisions, with Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii set to play wing for the first time in his career in Perth.
"The opportunity to look at this game came from probably three or four different angles," Kiss said.
"The aerial battle, he's (Suaalii) going to be big, he's probably one of the best in the business."
The test marks almost exactly a year until the start of the World Cup, when Australia will kick the tournament off against Hong Kong in Perth.
The Wallabies have not won a World Cup title since 1999 and their status as a powerhouse has diminished since they last hosted in 2003, a tournament hailed a runaway commercial and cultural success.
Australia exited at the pool stage during their disastrous 2023 World Cup campaign, leading to the acrimonious departure of coach Eddie Jones.
"Trying to get things right, so we can gradually make sure we're as fireproof as possible in every way to get to the World Cup," Kiss said.
"The big picture always sits there. Yet the right here, right now mantra is strong.
"The players have been really strong on that, which is wonderful."
South Africa coach Rassie Erasmus has defended resting some of his star players due to a "heavy workload" and is bracing for a tough challenge.
"This is going to be a big challenge against a team that has been playing good rugby," Erasmus said.
"Australia poses a completely different threat to New Zealand in the way they play, so we believe these combinations would be best suited for the challenge that we will face against them."