Wallabies coach Ewen McKenzie sensationally resigned on Saturday night following the Wallabies' heartbreaking loss to New Zealand in the third and final Bledisloe Cup clash in Brisbane.
Australia had led the world champions for much of the match before a try on the stroke of full-time to inside-centre Malakai Fekiota broke the hearts of the 45,000-plus crowd at Suncorp Stadium.
A major announcement was mooted for the Wallabies' press conference post-match press conference.
"I resigned this morning at 10 o'clock," McKenzie said. "There's a bunch of reasons that I've written. The intention was win, lose or draw I was going to announce that resignation tonight. I've only just told the team. I didn't actually advise the team or any of the members of staff and I've just done that.
"I'm not going to go into the detail – you guys can work that out."
"The easiest way for me is to exit stage left and I'll leave you guys to ponder, speculate and I'll write a chapter in my book and then you'll learn all about it."
The news comes at the end of one of the most tumultuous periods in Australian rugby history, with wayward playmaker Kurtley Beale stood down in the wake of the text message scandal that also saw business manager Di Patston resign citing stress after the fall-out.
Australian Rugby Union chief Bill Pulver said the plan was to appoint a new coach before the team flies out for the spring tour on Friday and spoke of his disappointment at the media and "certain sections of the Australian public" and said Australian rugby had lost "a good man".
