The Central Coast native is eager to become the first Australian woman to jump two metres, refusing to settle for anything less than the exceptional.

She came agonizingly close to clearing the height at the opening event of the Summer Super Series at the AIS Track on Thursday night, having sailed over at 1.96 metres to win the meet.

It's the fourth time McDermott has cleared the Olympic qualifier, and with Tokyo in her sights she decided to raise the bar four centimetres - ruling out any chance to level Eleanor Patterson's Australian record of 1.99 metres.

"If I went 1.98 first, I would have been satisfied but not as hungry for the two metres. I want to get up to those 200 centimetre jumps, getting over something that's quite common for me but aim for something that's exceptional," McDermott said.

"I think if I jump two metres at the Olympics it puts me in good stead for the medals, from how I was jumping at 1.96 metres today, it isn't far off.

"My ambition has been to jump two metres at every competition, rain, hail or shine. Good surface, bad surface.

"For all these years I've been training, I've started to become the athlete that might be able to do that."

The Canberra meet marked McDermott's first of the domestic season, having not competed since claiming third at the Diamond League's leg in Rome five months ago.

She was one of the few Australian athletes to join the European circuit following the COVID-19 outbreak, with her persistence paying off with 11 podium finishes in as many events.

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McDermott jumped a personal best of 1.98 metres in Germany, marking her as a genuine medal contender in Tokyo.

"It was inspiring to go over there because when I came back training I knew I wasn't far off, I could also see the best in the world," McDermott said.

"It made me realise that I'm not that different."

The 24-year-old athlete will look to maintain her consistency over the domestic summer, with the Canberra meet launching her countdown to Tokyo.

"I was excited but also a little bit nervous [for my first meet of the season] because you just don't know," McDermott said.

"It's like when you make a cake, you make the batter, put everything in the pan, you don't know how it's going to turn out but you have to serve it. That's how I felt today, I'm serving a cake I haven't tried. But obviously I'm baking it right because it's nice to taste.

"I'm excited because we're getting the technique more and more this season. In Tokyo, I don't want to be concerned about whether I place or beat someone.

"It's about me executing what I'm doing in competitions and training when I'm on the Olympics stage. I'm level headed leading into my first Olympics because I've had a bit of experience on the world stage now, but confidence wise I'm feeling good."

In the men's high jump, Brandon Starc marked his return with a 2.27 metres clearance after almost a year without competing.

Jack Hale clocked 10.21 seconds in the men's 100 metres to hold off fellow Victorians Jake Penny and Michael Romanin, while Hana Basic won the women's sprint with a blistering 11.25 seconds.

Canberra-based Chad Perris (T13) crossed the line at 10.71 seconds to win the 100-metres ambulant, edging out Jaydon Page (T47) by 20 milliseconds.

Perris' time would have been an Oceania record if not for the 2.2 tailwind.

"It's a bit windy unfortunately but it was good to get away still," Perris said.

"We're really targeting these events and I'm running well, then we'll knuckle down for the Tokyo preparation.

"I think running these times at this time of year, when we're in training mode still is really good and I'm excited for the year to come."

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