Instead, Tony Gustavsson's Australia found their groove without the services of injured captain Sam Kerr to eliminate Canada and send most of the 28,000-strong Melbourne crowd home happy.
"This gift of a home World Cup is meeting all its KPIs," sports writer Greg Baum said in The Age newspaper.
Australia's opening match against Ireland drew 75,784 fans to Stadium Australia in Sydney, a record crowd for a women's soccer match in the country.
More than 1.6 million tickets have been sold across Australia and New Zealand for the tournament so far.
Australia have never made it past the quarter-finals of a World Cup but the Matildas' players believe the crowd energy could help them go all the way to the final.
Persons:
Tony Gustavsson's, Sam Kerr, Greg Baum, Gustavsson, Matildas, We're, Caitlin Foord, we've, Ian Ransom, Muralikumar
Organizations:
MELBOURNE, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, Sydney Football, Germany, South, Thomson
Locations:
Canada, Nigeria, Tony Gustavsson's Australia, Melbourne, Sydney, Australia, New Zealand, Colombia, South American