Fatigued and relieved, Ireland will savour their historic series win over the Wallabies before turning their attention to a year-ending blockbuster with the All Blacks in Dublin.
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Saturday night's stirring 20-16 triumph in the third Test decider in Sydney sealed Ireland's first series victory in Australia in almost 40 years.
Coach Joe Schmidt said the Six Nations champions emptied their tank in front of a record crowd of 44,085 fans at Allianz Stadium to ice the most successful season in Irish rugby history.
The men in green defended their line until the very last minute to add the Lansdowne Cup to the Six Nations crown that the world's second-ranked side achieved in Grand Slam fashion on St Patrick's Day at Twickenham.
"To be in their backyard and to sneak off with the Lansdowne Trophy is a little bit special for us, especially on the back of a pretty long season," Schmidt said.
"I think it's a credit to the players that they dug in just well enough.
"They deserve a break."
Kiwi Schmidt also paid tribute to the Wallabies, who threatened to snatch victory at the death after fighting back from eight points down early in the second half of a fittingly gripping climax to the series, in which both teams scored 55 points across the three games.
"It's been a fantastic series," he said.
"They just kept coming - wave after wave - I thought they were super in that second half and I thought it was a super effort from our guys just to hang in there and keep them out."
Still weighing up his future beyond 2018, Schmidt said it was too early to start plotting Ireland's eagerly awaited return bout with his native New Zealand.
Ireland famously ended a 111-year losing run against the All Blacks in Chicago in 2016, in the process also snapping New Zealand's world-record 18-Test winning streak.
The European champions host Steve Hansen's All Blacks on November 17 at Aviva Stadium.
But Schmidt said his more immediate focus is on Ireland's first November outing with Italy in Chicago two weeks before confronting the All Blacks.
"Without it being too hackneyed, we're a kind of a next-game focus," he said.
"We probably won't look too far forward than that. Argentina after Italy.
"I suppose for me, personally, the All Blacks is a little bit special because my mum is such a big fan of the All Blacks ... I'm going back to New Zealand for a couple of weeks so I probably won't get as many of the treats that she cooks."
Australian Associated Press
