Australia looked set to be celebrating victory after defender Tony Popovic, playing in his last international, headed an 88th-minute goal off a Marco Bresciano free-kick to break the South Americans' stout resistance.

But Beauchamp, who was only on the field for a minute, headed past his goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer, who himself had only just been on the field as a replacement for another Socceroo who was making his farewell appearance, Zejlko Kalac.

It sent the Paraguayans into wild joy as they got the goal to spoil Australia's party before a near 50,000 full-house at Lang Park.

The Australians used the Brisbane match to say farewell to senior players Tony Vidmar, Stan Lazaridis, Popovic and Kalac, in their first match together since the World Cup in Germany last June.

In effect, Australia's decision to make mass substitutions to give their outgoing players a deserved round of applause from the home fans, backfired spectacularly with the injury-time clanger between two fresh players.

"After the game it was a bit of an anti-climax, but again we've been done by a dodgy decision in the last second of the game," said new skipper Lucas Neill, who was devastated when he conceded a last-minute penalty against eventual champions Italy to knock the Socceroos out of the World Cup.

"But I think the emotion of the night and the constant changing of substitutions disrupted the performance in the end.

"It's hard for the new guys to come in and get used to the pace of the game straight away even though there's only a couple of minutes left.

"It was devastating for Megsy (Beauchamp) when he came on because he's been pushed in the back (by Cardozo) to be honest and that's going to haunt him for a while."

Asked how Beauchamp felt after the match, Neill said: "Head down, same as I was against Italy."

The match looked headed for a scoreless draw, as two of three earlier meetings between the two teams in Australia six years ago had done, before the late excitement.

Australia dominated the early stages with crisp passing and running off the ball but were not sharp enough up front to convert the approach play.

The best chance came near halftime when Bresciano was brought down in a heavy tackle from Paraguayan skipper Carlos Gamarra inside the area.

The South Americans looked dangerous on the break with Oscar Cardozo and Nelson Cuevas worrying the Australians with their pace.

Paraguay's players were incensed when defender Julio Manzur was yellow-carded by Japanese referee Joji Kashihara in the 25th minute for bringing down Aussie skipper Lucas Neill after the referee didn't punish a couple of earlier rasping Australian tackles.

Kalac, who almost cost Australia passage into the second round of this year's World Cup conceding a fumbled goal against Croatia, was slow to come out in an aerial challenge on Cardozo in the 40th minute, but the Paraguayan's header went over the bar.

Tackles flew in early in the second half, Edgar Barreto went down in a challenge with Tim Cahill bringing the Paraguayans off the bench in fury.

The Paraguayans claimed Cahill had used an elbow but television replays showed the Everton midfielder had flicked his fingers across the face of Barreto, who theatrically fell to the ground clutching his face.

Cahill received a yellow card.

Kalac saved at the second attempt to stop a Cuevas volley, while at the other end Bresciano fired straight at Paraguayan goalkeeper Justo Villar.

Lazaridis, playing his 60th and final international, received an emotional send-off when he was replaced by Archie Thompson just after halftime.

Gamarra was also taken off in his last international and replaced by Paulo Da Silva midway through the half.

Interim Australian coach Graham Arnold also took off Vidmar and Popovic, before summoning Kalac out of goal in the last minute of normal time to another huge roar -- only for the crowd to be silenced by the mix-up at the end.