The Wallabies may have threatened a fairytale comeback despite a raft of fresh injuries, but they ended up blowing their chance in a 25-17 rugby Test loss to England in Brisbane.
The visitors led 19-0 in the first half on Saturday but Australia edged to within five points late at Suncorp Stadium, despite four injuries and a yellow card to Dave Rennie's men.
But some costly turnovers when they had all the running hurt the Wallabies, who scored two tries to England's one but had to watch as man-of-the-match Owen Farrell booted six penalties.
Rennie lamented poor tackling, England's early collision dominance and costly late mistakes for the loss.
"I don't want to be here talking about injuries," he said
"That's part of the game and we've had a few but wasn't the reason we lost tonight."
It creates a series decider in Sydney next Saturday when the Wallabies' depth will be tested after a heavy injury toll that had already piled up in Perth's opener.
The much-hyped Jordan Petaia fullback experiment lasted just three minutes before he was concussed making a tackle.
The 22-year-old struggled to get to his feet when he eventually limped off and will almost certainly miss next week's third Test in Sydney.
His injury made it a third fullback casualty for the Wallabies in the series, after Tom Banks broke his arm in Perth and Andrew Kellaway (hamstring) pulled up lame during the week.
Izaia Perese's potential ACL knee injury to begin the second half was another cruel blow for the in-form NSW Waratahs back and Rennie.
The casualty ward was overrun when substitute forward Scott Sio (arm) and lock Cadeyrn Neville (knee) also left the field with issues in the second half.
Perese had earlier received a yellow card for a deliberate knock down, his attempt to intercept Marcus Smith's long pass judged by the TMO as an illegitimate attempt to catch the ball.
It capped a mostly horrible first half for the Wallabies, Ellis Genge's thunderous run to bowl over Michael Hooper setting the tone in the first minute.
Billy Vunipola cruised over in line-out maul to open the scoring before Owen Farrell kicked four first-half penalties to build a 19-0 lead.
Australia's first visit into England's quarter brought a simple try, Taniela Tupou crashing over in his return from a calf injury to make it 19-7 at the break.
Samu Kerevi's try in the 48th minute made it an eight-point game before Smith saw yellow for a deliberate knock-on, when the hosts edged another three points closer.
Then Tom Wright, who shared fullback duties with an out-of-sorts James O'Connor, worked some magic with the play of the night.
His sharp break, long kick and one-handed tackle into touch gifted the Wallabies prime position.
But they handed the ball straight back with Folau Fainga'a's wonky lineout throw and Farrell took three points down the other end to create an eight-point buffer.
Again the Wallabies missed touch after earning a penalty as chances went begging, a forward pass also halting a promising raid in the final few minutes as Australia's unbeaten run at the venue was halted at 10 Tests.
England coach Eddie Jones was pleased with his side's early physicality and late grit to get home.
"It might be the scent from the (nearby XXXX) brewery that encourages the players to get stuck into each other," Jones, unbeaten in five Tests as a coach at Suncorp Stadium said.
Jones said Genge appeared "a little bit annoyed and ... wanted to make a mark on the game" while he said Vunipola "had a good look in his eyes before the game".
