A second half penalty by skipper Mile Jedinak (52') was needed to restore parity after Genki Haraguchi stunned an uncharacteristically sluggish Socceroos with a goal on five minutes.

It's seven years since the Socceroos have beaten Japan.Billed as Australia's biggest game since they lifted the Asian Cup but it got off to the worst possible start and it was the Aussies who were the architects of their early troubles.

Japan, perhaps stung by recent criticism of their performances, were sharper and quicker to the ball, in contrast to the Australians who dominated possession but struggled to make their passes stick.

Coach Ange Postecoglou made some big calls ahead of the match leaving Mark Milligan, Robbie Kruse and Mathew Leckie on the bench, along with Japan nemesis Tim Cahill.

Into the starting XI came Ryan McGowan, Massimo Luongo and the big surprise Apo Giannou who partnered Tomi Juric up front - Postecoglou going for a strong physical presence in attack.

But it was Japan who struck early. A cheap turn over by Trent Sainsbury released Haraguchi towards goal, and the Bundesliga midfielder left Ryan McGowan in his wake as he shot through the legs of goalkeeper Mat Ryan to bring up the opener.

Australia had to wait until 31 minutes to get their first shot on target - a free kick from Jedinak that was easily saved. But the Aussie skipper had another chance after the break and made it stick.

Brad Smith's cut-back found Juric, who was bundled over in the area, and Jedinak stepped up to the spot and shot straight down the middle to put the home side back on level-pegging.

Minutes later Juric went down in the box again, but a subsequent penalty was not awarded by referee Nawaf Shukralla.

Postecoglou went to his bench and brought on Kruse for Giannou on on 57 minutes and the Australians lifted.

At the 62nd minute Aaron Mooy’s corner landed to Jedinak who knocked back to Matthew Spiranovic whose header was saved by Nishikawa.

Leckie entered the fray while Cahill's entry with 20 minutes on the clock brought a huge roar from most of the 48,460 people in the stadium. 

In the final 15 minutes Japan nearly took the lead after Gotoku Sakai’s centre into the penalty area ended up with a dangerous header by Yu Kobayashi which was saved by Ryan.

With two minutes remaining Luongo’s set-piece was received by Matthew Spiranovic with a final header just looping over the crossbar.

At full-time it finished 1-1 and Australia now travel to Thailand next month to continue their road to Russia 2018.