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The Socceroos went ahead via Craig Goodwin and bossed Les Bleus for the initial 25 minutes at Al Janoub Stadium.
But the Australians were then swamped by wave after ominous blue wave as France scored four goals in a 45-minute burst.
Veteran Olivier Giroud netted twice while Adrien Rabiot and megastar Kylian Mbappe also scored against the outclassed Socceroos.
Goodwin's ninth-minute goal was from Australia's top shelf, with the Adelaide United captain scoring from a stunning fast-break.
Harry Souttar's laser long ball from defence was collected by Mathew Leckie on the right flank and he cut inside French defender Lucas Hernandez.
The Frenchman's right knee buckled as Leckie arrowed across the face of goal to Goodwin who scored to put the Socceroos on top of the world champions.
Australia could have gone 2-0 up in the 22nd minute when a flying Mitch Duke 20-metre shot just curved right of the net.
But five minutes later, the tide turned towards France.
Rabiot squared scores with a close-range header from a perfectly weighted ball from substitute Theo Hernandez, who replaced his injured older brother.
Five minutes later, Giroud put the French 2-1 ahead after a blunder from Australian right-back Nathaniel Atkinson, one of six Socceroos on debut in Doha at the World Cup finals.
Atkinson failed to control a routine Jackson Irvine pass and was dispossessed in a twinkling by Rabiot and the ball rolled to the brilliant Mbappe.
With an audacious back-heel, he returned possession to Rabiot, who in turn found Giroud unmarked metres from goal.
The French went close to scoring four more times in the next 10 minutes before Australia's Irvine, against the flow, bounced a header into the post just before halftime.
After the break, the French rout was completed with accurate headers from the brilliant Mbappe in the 68th minute and Giroud, who just three minutes later equalled Thierry Henry's record for most goals for France, 51.
The Australians next meet Tunisia (Saturday from 8.00pm AEDT) with Denmark (Sunday, from 1.30am AEDT) to follow.
Tunisia and Denmark played out a scoreless draw in their first Group D game. Watch the highlights from the match below, or head over to the SBS On Demand Match Hub for all the highlights and replays.
