Australia's Olympic 400m champion Cathy Freeman has made a successful return to the event.

Freeman won comfortably at a national series meeting on Saturday in her first 400m race since the Sydney 2000 Games.

The 29-year-old crossed the line in a comparatively slow 52.59 seconds, 10m ahead of second-placed Australian Katerina Dressler.

"If anything, I was careful not to go out too hard," Freeman said.

"The first 100m was conservative but I had heaps of strength coming home."

Freeman said she was confident of running faster times before heading to the United States in May for a training camp.

She will run at the Australia national championships in Brisbane next month to qualify for this year's Manchester Commonwealth Games.