As the Brumbies and Queensland Reds strap themselves in for an intense race to the play-offs, the ACT side sent a warning to its rivals with what will go down as one of the most complete performances in the club's rich history.

Less than 24 hours after the Reds jumped the Brumbies into top spot on the ladder, the Brumbies hit back in the best possible way, thrashing the Force at Canberra Stadium.

It was the perfect time to send a statement north of the border with just six games remaining in the regular season. And the Brumbies destroyed any notion their attack was boring with a six-tries-to-one performance. They were equally impressive in defence.

The Brumbies secured a crucial four-try bonus point to send them three points clear in the Australian conference and edge them closer to a finals berth for the first time since 2004. They led by 29 points at half-time and cruised to a 34-point win.

They will now set themselves for a blockbuster battle against long-time rivals the Canterbury Crusaders at Canberra Stadium next Sunday.

"We executed what we did at training and some of our set-piece plays worked really well. We wanted to set the tone early and we did that really well with some early tries," Brumbies hooker Stephen Moore said. "The Crusaders are a great side, they've been a benchmark so we know it's going to be tough . . . hopefully we can put on a show.

"We were pretty fresh tonight and I think that showed."

Little has separated the Reds and Brumbies over the past two seasons as evident in the 19-19 epic they played out two weeks ago.

Now they will go tit-for-tat as the season gets to crunch time with just one slip-up capable of causing a meltdown for either team. The Brumbies – led well by five-eighth Matt Toomua and captain Ben Mowen – never gave the Force a sniff in a brutal display at both ends.

Reds coach Ewen McKenzie accused the Brumbies of being boring last week, but it took them just four minutes to score the first try of the match. In their first visit to the attacking zone, Jesse Mogg ran a perfect line to squeeze over for the opener. They got further in front when Fijian flyer Henry Speight latched on to a good ball from halfback Nic White for the second five-pointer.

It almost mirrored the start the Brumbies had against the lowly ranked Southern Kings a month ago. But while the Brumbies got into a comfort zone against the Kings and had to settle for a draw, they put their foot on the Force's throat and went for the kill. When outside-centre Tevita Kuridrani brushed past three defenders, the Brumbies were ahead 22-0 while the Force struggled to hold the ball longer than one phase.

Even when the Force did spend five minutes in their attacking 22 metres, the Perth-based side failed to dent the Brumbies defence.

By the time Speight scored his second try in the corner, the Brumbies had a bonus point for their fourth try and the result was almost locked in. It was the second time this season the Brumbies attack clicked and scored four tries in the first half of a match.

The Force finally got over the line in the dying minutes with Matt Hodgson scoring from a driving maul.