How Australia found themselves ahead is a minor miracle.

With just two seconds remaining,and in possession,Lonergan was penalised for being off his feet.

Forced to defend their line like their life depended on it,with a wild crowd at Principality Stadium roaring like mad,Lonergan got over the ball at a breakdown,yanked it back towards Australia’s line,before kicking it out to seal a euphoric win for a group in need of some luck.

The emotion on the faces of Australian players said it all.

“I got off my feet and slipped out a bit there. I was honestly gutted. I thought that was it,” Lonergan said.

“[The turnover] was just lucky. If you look at all the breakdowns there we had someone over there trying to get it. I was the lucky one to get it.

“It was in my hands,it was actually slipping around a bit and everyone’s just yelling my name. I had no idea what was going on. Then it slipped down on my foot I think and I just booted it as hard as I could. To finish on a win ... morale is high.”

It was Australia’s second win on their five-Test tour,after three straight losses to France,Italy and Ireland by margins of three points or fewer.

“I’m the eternal optimist,” Rennie said. “Honestly,I genuinely felt with 20 to go and down by 21,there was plenty of time.

“It was a game around momentum. We had all the momentum late in the game. Huge amount of ticker within our group. We had a number of guys who played in the Italy game and it was a chance for redemption today. We’ve had a number of young guys who really fronted up. We’re stoked. It’s a nice way to finish.

“We haven’t beaten Wales for a while,so that’s positive. You get that monkey off your back. It’s more around the fight within the group. We had a pretty short training week. We only had 25[players] to pick from. We couldn’t afford to get any injuries during the week. We battled for a while but came home really strong. Rapt with the courage and character within the group.”

Had Australia capitulated and lost badly,who knows how the Rugby Australia board would have reacted,given the team’s record of four wins from 16 previous Tests.

Rennie,whose future has been the subject of much debate,said it wasn’t on his mind.

“We were just totally focused on how we get back in the game,” Rennie said.

Down to 13 men in the second half,courtesy of yellow cards to Jake Gordon and Tom Robertson,Australia looked bereft of answers but bagged four late tries to earn a few celebratory beers after a gruelling six-week stint away from home.

The match was supposed to be played under the roof at Principality Stadium,but a technical fault meant there was a three-metre gap where rain poured onto the middle of the field.

Back-rower Langi Gleeson’s first Test start began with a bang as he crunched Josh Adams with a bone-rattling tackle but the youngster limped off early in the second half with cramps.

New No.10 Ben Donaldson found himself at halfback when Gordon was off the field. No one would have had that on their bingo card at the start of the trip. He was sound but couldn’t totally get into the game and was pulled off after 55 minutes for Lolesio.

Australia also lost skipper James Slipper to concussion at half-time.

A demolition job looked on the cards as Wayne Pivac’s side drew ahead 20-6 after 27 minutes.

But a rolling maul try in the 34th minute would have brought a huge smile to the face of forwards coach Dan McKellar.

It was Folau Fainga’a who finished the job off,prompting an Aussie spectator in the crowd to yell out “Go the Brumbies”.

What wouldn’t have pleased Wallabies coaches was Gordon getting yellow-carded for the second time in three matches. Penalised for being offside,as Wales came hard at Australia’s line,Gordon shook his head in disbelief.

What took place in the last 23 minutes was just so typical of the Wallabies - unpredictable in every sense of the word.

“I will remember this game forever,” Wallabies forward Allan Alaalatoa said.

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