Hannah Green is dreaming of a weekend shootout with her bestie after living up to her pre-tournament favouritism with a dazzling Australian Open first round.

The jet-lagged world No.6 wowed fans with six birdies in the last 10 holes to power into pole position to claim her maiden national championship on Melbourne's famed sandbelt.

Green will be out early in the best of the conditions for Friday's second round looking to turn a one-shot deficit into a halfway lead.

Only South Korean amateur Hyojun Yang and fellow West Australian and her new stablemate Su Oh are above Green on the leaderboard.

Men's first-round pacesetter Lucas Herbert is off in the afternoon on Friday at Kingston Heath.

He fired an eight-under 63 at Victoria on Thursday to snare a one-stroke lead over Japanese amateur champion Rintaro Nakano and unheralded American Ryggs Johnston.

Cameron Smith was one shot further back entering his second round at Kingston Heath, which the 2022 British Open champ claimed had been deliberately set up as soft for "American style" golf.

If he takes advantage of the unusually easy set up, Smith remains the player to beat over the weekend, says Herbert.