But Cheika warned his players they must be prepared to put their "bodies on the line for everything" if they want to cause a major upset against one of the greatest All Blacks teams of all time.

The Wallabies are trying to play down the hype of their trans-Tasman World Cup final as they begin preparations for a blockbuster battle.

They are attempting to deny New Zealand from winning back-to-back titles and that means refusing to accept a berth in the final as an acceptable result.

The winner of the Australia-New Zealand contest will become the first team in World Cup history to lift the trophy three times.

"We've got to make sure no matter what, we're ready for anything and we're prepared to put our bodies on the line for 80 minutes non-stop," Cheika said.

"I don't feel like we need to look at this as some massively different match. You're playing the best team in the world so you've got to go up a level, but you want to be planning your tournament to play as best as you can in the final. We want to make it the game we want it to be."

Asked if there was any part of the atmosphere his players could soak up, Cheika said: "No, I don't think so. That means we came here just happy to be in the final.

"That's the thing. If you want to be happy with that's good and we can go home, everyone will pat you on the back and say well done.

"Or do you want to do something different? Do you want to go and have something that you've got for the rest of your life.

"They're the choices to be made and I know what choice this team will make."

The Wallabies are the only team to beat New Zealand this year – a 27-19 triumph in Sydney two months ago.

But Cheika said looking back to that match – the Wallabies' only win against the All Blacks in the past 12 Tests between the countries – would be selective memory.

The All Blacks got their revenge the following week with a 41-13 thumping to re-establish their dominance.

To reverse the trend, Cheika is starting every day with a team meeting to discuss "the plan" to ensure the players improve each day.

"There's no whiteboard, we just get together and say, 'what do we want to get out of today?' We've tried that this campaign and it's gone down pretty well," Cheika said.

"Sometimes we have a laugh in there, sometimes we get serious. But no matter what we're talking about, what we want to get out of the day and then at the end we look back and ask did we get what we want."

The Wallabies and All Blacks have taken different paths to the World Cup final.

Australia have had to slog it out against England, Wales, Scotland and Argentina, with intense battles taking a physical toll on the 31-man squad.

In contrast, New Zealand cruised passed Namibia, Georgia and Tonga before smashing France in the quarter-final and facing their first real test in a two-point semi-final win against South Africa.

"We knew what it would be like, we planned accordingly. The players knew that's how it was going to be and we feel very ready from that point of view," Cheika said.

"I don't know if it's an advantage or not. You'll never know. But I don't think it's a disadvantage. In itself, it's not going to win us any games. But the team is in that sort of mode where they're playing hard for each other."