Italy had not won a Six Nations game in seven years before a last-minute victory over Wales in Cardiff in March, and they have since followed that with a 49-17 thumping of Samoa last weekend and now their first ever win against the Wallabies at the 19th attempt.

It might have been different had debutant replacement flyhalf Ben Donaldson not missed a conversion for Australia with the final kick of the game, his error sparking wild scenes of celebration among the Italians.

"The positive for me is that we got in a position to win and we ended up winning. We will learn a lot from that," Crowley told reporters. "The performance out there from the group of players was outstanding. I asked them to die for Italy and they did that.

"We're planning to have a party tonight because in test rugby you must enjoy your wins. If it (the conversion) had gone over at the end it would have been a different situation."

Italy were full value for their win and missed 14 points from the kicking tee themselves as they forced Australia into multiple errors and disrupted their set-pieces, especially the line-out.

Next up is a final autumn international clash against South Africa on Saturday, a chance for another major scalp.

"Our biggest focus has been to create an identity," Crowley said. "We had to get credibility and respect, and you only get that by the way you play.

"That's been our foundation, we're trying to build credibility, build respect and we're playing a game that suits the players we have."