It was the first basketball competition to be staged in Carioca Arena 1, with Rio 2016 having stated, during December, that the venue was 96 per cent ready to host Olympic competition.

Argentina and Venezuela were the final two nations competing in the four-team event, which was held from January 15 to 17.

The South American nations, though, proved unable to provide a strong resistance to an Australian team who looked in fine form as they continue their preparations for the Olympic tournament.

Australia, who qualified for Rio 2016 by triumphing at the 2015 Oceania Championships, claimed an 87-37 victory over Argentina in their opening game, before thrashing a youthful Venezuelan team 104-24.

The host nation Brazil, who were guaranteed a place in the Olympic tournament, provided the Australians with a far stronger challenge on the final day of the event.

Although Australia established an 18-8 lead after the opening quarter of the game, Brazil, who also won their  two opening games, began to battle their way back into the contest with only five points separating both teams prior to the final period of play, with the score reading 57-53.

Eventually the Australian team were able to stretch their advantage to end with a winning margin of 77-67, with Leilani Mitchell, Suzy Batkovic, Cayla Francis and Steph Talbot all ending the match in double figures for points.

“We had some outstanding performances in Leilani and Steph who shut down Brazil’s main scorer,” said Australia's coach Brendan Joyce.

“We played pretty good basketball aside from our turnovers which kept Brazil in the game.

"We made adjustments at half-time though, it could have been a 20-point margin I think if we controlled our mistakes.

“There are areas we still need to improve but a number of these girls could definitely go to the Olympics, with the experience in the venue they now have.”

Both Australia and Brazil will hope to build upon their performances at the test event, as they look towards competing alongside 2014 world champions United States and the 2015 EuroBasket winners Serbia in the Olympic tournament.

Canada, Japan and Senegal have also booked their places by winning their regional championships, while five more teams will qualify at the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) World Olympic Qualifying tournament, which is due to be held in June.

The Olympic men’s and women’s tournaments are scheduled to take place from August 6 to 21.