Despite a spike in COVID-19 cases, the number of deaths in Australia last year remained below pre-pandemic levels.
New data from the Australian Bureau Statistics showed there were more than 171,000 deaths in the country in 2021.
While the number of deaths is more than three per cent higher than 2020, it still remained lower than 2019 before the start of the pandemic.
The leading cause of death for 2021 was heart disease with more than 17,000 recorded last year.
Dementia and Alzheimer's disease was the next leading cause, followed by cerebrovascular diseases such as strokes and aneurysms, lung cancer, with chronic lower respiratory diseases rounding out the top five.
Dementia was the leading killer among women while heart disease was the leading cause for men.
The bureau's director of mortality statistics Lauren Moran said diseases such as the coronavirus didn't make the top 10 causes of deaths in 2021.
"COVID-19 was the 34th ranked cause in 2021, with 1122 deaths, most of which were associated with the Delta wave," she said.
"COVID-19 deaths in 2021 had a younger median age than in 2020 and a higher tendency to have pre-existing chronic cardiac conditions."
Public health restrictions during Delta wave lockdowns also led to lower rates of deaths among respiratory diseases.
Last year there were 39.1 deaths per 100,000 from respiratory illnesses, which was the second-lowest rate on record.
"This included just two deaths from influenza," Ms Moran said.
"COVID-19 public health measures appeared to suppress the transmission of many common respiratory illnesses in 2020, and this continued in 2021."
However, alcohol-induced deaths rose sharply during 2021, increasing by nearly six per cent from the year before.
The rate of alcohol-related deaths was the highest in the past decade, with it being driven by an 8.1 per cent increase in fatalities among men.
Suicide was the 15th largest cause of death in Australia in 2021, with 12 per 100,000 people, and was the leading cause for people aged between 15 and 44-years-old.
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