Aussie captain Eales gets his hands on the trophy

But this advantage was immediately thrown away when Colin Charvis - who replaced Scott Quinnell at the break - made a disastrous attempt to run the ball out of his own half.

His feeble kick was returned with interest by the Australians, and Toutai Kefu and Nathan Grey battered holes in the Lions' defence for Daniel Herbert to score his second try.

With the hosts now leading 23-20, the Lions were handed a major chance when Herbert flattened Brian O'Driscoll with a high tackle.

Wilkinson slotted the kick home to give the Lions parity at 23-23, but - in what would prove to be a pivotal phase of the game -they failed to take further advantage of Herbert's 10-minute spell in the sin bin.

Wilkinson's kicking let him down

After that it was all Australia and, with the Lions continuing to give penalties away, Burke did the rest with his boot.

The Wallabies ended a thrilling first half ahead 16-13, but the Lions will have gone to the dressing room knowing they should have done more with the greater possession they enjoyed.

Herbert's well-worked try just before the interval was the difference between the sides, but the Lions ended the first half camped on the Australia goal-line.

Full-blooded charges from Keith Wood and Rob Henderson were repulsed by desperate Australian tackling, but a penalty for offside enabled Wilkinson to reduce the arrears to just three points.

It was an important kick for the fly-half, as he had already missed two attempts at the posts that by his high standards were very kickable.

Herbert crashes over for his second try

The game started at a predictably breakneck pace, with the Wallabies settling first.

Australia's two-try hero from the second Test, Joe Roff, looked particularly lively, and the tourists were forced to make a number of telling tackles.

Burke and Wilkinson traded penalties to make the score 3-3, but the Lions continued to transgress at the breakdowns and Burke slotted over his second kick to give Australia a three-point lead after 11 minutes.

With Aussie spoiler George Smith to the fore, the Lions were struggling to recycle the ball, and another penalty for Burke was the result when Quinnell was punished for failing to release the ball.

Now 9-3 down, the Lions hit back with the first try of the game. Good work by the pack was followed by a delightful long pass from Wilkinson to Wood on the narrow side.

Wilkinson wraps up scrum-half Gregan

The Irish hooker drew the covering defence before off-loading to Tom Smith who showed great hands to move the ball on for Robinson to finish.

Wilkinson converted from the touchline to give the Lions a 10-9 lead with a quarter of the game gone.

But as the interval approached, Australia scored a superb try when wings Roff and Andrew Walker combined to put Herbert through near the posts. Burke slotted the simple conversion over.

It was not to be Herbert's or Burke's last contribution to the Australian cause.

Australia: 15-Matthew Burke; 14-Andrew Walker, 13-Daniel Herbert, 12-Nathan Grey, 11-Joe Roff; 10-Elton Flatley, 9-George Gregan; 8-Toutai Kefu, 7-George Smith, 6-Owen Finegan, 5-John Eales (captain), 4-Justin Harrison; 3-Rod Moore, 2-Michael Foley, 1-Nick Stiles.
Replacements: 16-Brendan Cannon, 17-Ben Darwin, 18-Matt Cockbain, 19-David Lyons, 20-Chris Whitaker, 21-James Holbeck, 22-Chris Latham.

Lions: 15-Matt Perry; 14-Dafydd James, 13-Brian O'Driscoll, 12-Rob Henderson, 11-Jason Robinson; 10-Jonny Wilkinson, 9-Matt Dawson; 8-Scott Quinnell, 7-Neil Back, 6-Martin Corry, 5-Danny Grewcock, 4-Martin Johnson (captain), 3-Phil Vickery, 2-Keith Wood, 1-Tom Smith.
Replacements: 16-Darren Morris, 17-Dorian West, 18-Colin Charvis, 19-Martyn Williams, 20-Ronan O'Gara, 21-Andy Nicol, 22-Iain Balshaw.

Referee: Paddy O'Brien (New Zealand).