Held in the opening half on Monday, Sam Kerr's sixth goal of the tournament and 55th in Australian colours broke the deadlock against a resilient Philippines outfit coached by ex-Matildas boss Alen Stajcic.

An own-goal and Emily van Egmond's fourth goal of the tournament then gave Tony Gustavsson's team breathing space as the Philippines' resistance crumbled.

Van Egmond, the scorer of a hat-trick in the 18-0 demolition of Indonesia on Friday, swept in a corner which was cleared off the line. The rebound returned to the Newcastle Jet and she stabbed a header past a helpless keeper.

The goal capped another impressive performance from the experienced playmaker. She pulled the strings, especially in the second half, switching play with diagonal passes and cleaned up in the centre of the park.

However, skipper Sam Kerr received the most praise from Gustavsson.

Kerr's headed goal in the 51st minute was her sixth of the tournament after a five-goal display against Indonesia and Gustavsson said he loved coaching Australia's all-time leading goalscorer in international football.

"I've said that from day one that I'm really appreciative that I can be a small part of Sam's amazing career," the Swede said. "She's an amazing player, but maybe more so an amazing captain and an amazing person. It's a privilege to work with her every day."

Australia's win sealed a place in the last eight and can secure top spot in the group with a positive result against Thailand on Friday.

Gustavsson said while the aim is to continue his team's form against the Thais, he will also approach the match with one eye on the knockout stages.

Defenders Alanna Kennedy and Ellie Carpenter may not be risked as they are one yellow card away from a suspension while Cortnee Vine, who made her debut off the bench on Monday, and fellow up-and-comers such as Kyra Cooney-Cross, Remy Siemsen, Holly McNamara and Novocastrian Clare Wheeler will also be pushing for more minutes.

"We're going to treat that game the same way we've done with these two," Gustavsson said. "We had two main targets, main goals for the group stage. One was to win the group and two was to get out of the group with as many players as possible available and peaking physically and mentally going into the playoffs."

"Now we have secured a spot in the playoffs which is good, we have almost secured the first spot ... we're going to do that in a way where we make sure we have as many players as possible available for the quarter-final but also peaking."

Despite the scoreline, Monday's game was a stark contrast to Friday's opening fixture against Indonesia where Australia held a nine-goal half-time advantage on their way to an 18-0 thrashing of the world No.94.

Buoyed by a shock win over Thailand in their opening fixture, Stajcic's team came out firing with Chandler McDaniel firing an early effort wide for the Malditas.

Australia then huffed and puffed with all the field position and possession but couldn't find a way past the Filipino defence and debutante goalkeeper Kiara Fontanilla.

Australia's frustration as chance after chance went begging was clear to see made evident when Kerr, scorer of five goals in the Indonesia rout, screamed in anguish after steering a free header from a Steph Catley delivery wide of the goal after the half-hour mark.

All the frustration evaporated however just six minutes into the second term when Kerr headed home another dangerous Catley corner to give the Matildas the breakthrough they'd been searching for.

Stajcic meanwhile hailed his team's efforts, especially as his group was missing key players due to a COVID outbreak within the squad.

"We haven't done anything wrong yet we've had a couple of cases in our team and it really is difficult, it's the invisible enemy and it could be anyone at any moment," said the 58-year-old, who was facing the Matildas for the first time since his controversial sacking as their coach in 2019.

"The fact that we played against Australia today again without one of our key players who was unavailable, and rotating the squad, and actually played with our No.3 goalkeeper today ... that's her debut at this level.

"So many positives to take out of the performance today, on top of the actual effort they showed on the field."

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