Moscow: A devastated Ange Postecoglou has lamented the opportunity passed up by the Socceroos at the Confederations Cup.

Considered rank outsiders to progress to the second round, Australia were within touching distance of the feat on Sunday night in Moscow.

The Socceroos led 1-0 against South American champions Chile and spurned a number of golden chances to increase their lead.

The world No.4 side hit back, scrambling a goal home to earn a share of the spoils and progress to the next phase.

The Socceroos leave Russia after finishing third in their group, losing 3-2 to Germany and drawing 1-1 with both Cameroon and Chile.

Postecoglou credited his players for their effort but couldn't shake the feeling it could have been very different.

"It's definitely a missed opportunity. We wanted to come here and at least get out of the group and we haven't," Postecoglou said.

"If you look at the context of the three games we were in every game [so I'm] disappointed that we couldn't get through.

"That's me setting the highest possible benchmarks which I think we have to if we want to consistently compete at this level.

"For the boys to do that tonight, I think they'll get a great amount of belief out of it."

The Socceroos saved their best performance of the tournament for last.

Led by Tim Cahill in his 100th game, Australia played with confidence and dare against a side 44 places above them in the FIFA rankings – and that beat the Socceroos 3-1 at the last World Cup.

Mark Milligan kept Arsenal star Alexis Sanchez at bay. Jackson Irvine and Massimo Luongo were composed and sharp in the middle. Trent Sainsbury was a tower at the back and James Troisi took his chance well. Most impressively, the entire side executed the game plan for the entire 90 minutes.

"We played them four years ago and we thought we gave them a good game that day but they were just a little bit better than us," Postecoglou said.

"Today I thought we were the better side and deserved to get something out of it. "

AAP