An Australia soccer fan reacts at a fan-festival in Kaiserslautern city centre during their team's World Cup 2006 soccer match defeat to Italy June 26, 2006. [Reuters]

His injury-time penalty for 10-man Italy stunned Australia and reduced thousands watching the game in public arenas into silence and wails of disbelief.

Melbourne's Federation Square, for many the focal point for the home support of Australia's first World Cup campaign for 32 years, turned angry as the Socceroos had a quarter-final berth snatched from them at the death.

"The decision was absolutely disgraceful," former Aussie coach Rale Rasic said of the late penalty on host broadcast station SBS.

"Lucas Neill (who gave away the penalty) has been one of the players of the tournament and you have to have sympathy for him."

As with the second-round match against Croatia, multi-cultural communities such as Melbourne's had shared divided loyalties.

This time the focus was the city's Italian quarter along the restaurant strip of Lygon Street, where the 'Forza Italia' banners have stood alongside the flags of Australia since the tournament began.

No one cared that Guus Hiddink's side were depriving them of sleep for a fourth time with the 0100 kick-off local time against the Italians.

Over 40,000 people had been expected to be on the streets but there seemed to be significantly more than for previous matches watching at specially erected screens.

Police had record numbers of officers on patrol with organisers comparing the coordination of the night's activities as being on a par with New Year's Eve.

"It's not quite as big as New Year's Eve, but I've got to say a lot of the planning we've put together we've used previous New Year's Eves as a guide to deploy our resources," Superintendent Mick Williams told reporters.

And if the Socceroos have been considered competitive on the field, their iron will is as nothing compared to the nation's civic dignitaries, who are bidding with almost indecent haste to cash in on their unexpected run.

Melbourne, which styles itself as the sporting capital of Australia, was first off the mark by suggesting the team be greeted with a celebratory parade win or lose against the Azzurri.

Victorian Sports Minister Justin Madden, a key figure behind the city's hosting of the Commonwealth Games earlier in the year, said: "We'd like to see the ticker-tape parade here in Melbourne.

"We'd like to announce today that we are eager, and working towards holding a celebratory parade for the Socceroos, win, lose or draw."