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The Gabba was plunged into darkness by a power outage that halted play for almost 40 minutes to delay - and almost thwart - Brisbane's march to a 11-point AFL victory over Melbourne.

The Lions were leading by 40 points with about 12 minutes remaining in the final term on Friday night when the lights went out.

A lone bulb caught fire in a tower but eventually power was restored and play resumed before the 60-minute cut off that would have handed Brisbane victory.

The hosts eventually prevailed 14.9 (93) to 13.4 (82) - and with a big sigh of relief after conceding five unanswered goals once play resumed.

"What a night, seriously," Brisbane coach Chris Fagan said, before jokingly requesting not to be asked about the final 13 minutes.

"We played so well for three-and-a-half quarters ... we had them on the ropes.

"There's nothing to lose for the team that's behind in that situation so, psychologically, that was an advantage to them and they did it well."

In eerie scenes, the players had stood on the ground for several minutes before heading inside as power slowly returned to the ground.

They reappeared about 30 minutes later to warm up and were suddenly back underway.

It was a confusing sequence of events but not the first time it's happened at the Gabba, with a Big Bash League fixture in 2019 ended early by a power outage.

In 1996, disgruntled fans lit fires on the surface and in the stands of Waverley Park when a blackout forced St Kilda and Essendon's clash to be completed a week later. Three years later, the MCG scoreboard caught fire.

There were contrasting scenes at the Gabba, though, as 30,047 cheery fans broke into song waiting for a resumption.

Earlier the Lions, still smarting after a first-round hiding from Port Adelaide, shot out of the gates with six first-quarter goals while Demons star Max Gawn left the game with a knee injury.

The ruckman cut a devastated figure on the sideline and will wait on scans, hopeful of no long-term injury.

Steven May (calf) was ruled out of his injury return before the bounce and the Lions went in for the kill, Melbourne's second-quarter resistance blown apart with two early third-quarter goals that looked to have sealed a win for Chris Fagan's side.

Brisbane upset the Demons in last year's semi-final and Fagan was keen to show it was no "fluke", especially after their slack Adelaide Oval effort last Saturday.

Playing at half-forward, Dayne Zorko (22 touches, two goals, eight inside 50s, four tackles) showed how important he remains to Brisbane after missing round one, while Cam Rayner was electric in defence and Will Ashcroft (31 touches) a midfield jewel in his second AFL game.

He, Lachie Neale and Josh Dunkley helped Brisbane blow the Demons apart in the clearances, winning 60-32 and collecting 26 between them.

Early pressure from Jarrod Berry helped restrict Clayton Oliver to one first-half clearance, but the Demons star still finished with 37 disposals.

Ben Brown (four goals) and Bailey Fritsch took their chances to get the Demons back within 20 points in the second quarter, but quick Charlie Cameron and Joe Daniher goals to begin the second half snuffed them out.

Teams went goal-for-goal early but the Lions exploded late in the first quarter, notching 14-straight inside 50s.

With the forlorn Gawn icing his knee in the dressing room, Zorko, Ashcroft, Oscar McInerney and Daniher (four goals) all hit the scoreboard to create an early 25-point lead.

"I love the will and the fight in our team," Demons coach Simon Goodwin said.

"There's a lot to take out of that last 12 minutes ... but Brisbane beat us in a few areas that are really critical to the game."

© AAP 2023

Australia have drawn a line under their World Cup exploits and given a glimpse of the potentially bright future that awaits them with an impressive 3-1 win over Ecuador.

Socceroos boss Graham Arnold has spoken of wanting to use last year's round-of-16 exit as a springboard towards the 2026 tournament.

And the crowd of 20,268 at CommBank Stadium in Sydney got an insight into what lies in store over the next three-and-a-half years.

Australia's opening two goals on Friday came from experienced campaigners Jackson Irvine and Awer Mabil in a typically spirited and workmanlike showing.

But the real moment of excitement came late in the second half when 19-year-old debutant Alex Robertson kickstarted a move which led to fellow teenager Garang Kuol grabbing his first international goal.

"It's these senior boys that are crucial to all that, they've got to lead the way and they did that very well," Arnold said.

"Let's not get carried away - these kids need a heap of experience and plenty of game time at their clubs.

"These kids haven't played against South American teams before but I was very happy with young Alex and Aiden O'Neill was very good.

"These young boys are tapping the older boys on the shoulder, which is great."

Melbourne City midfielder O'Neill was the only player in Arnold's starting XI who didn't go to the World Cup and the familiarity allowed Australia to quickly get into their rhythm.

Mitch Duke was busy all night and he helped set up Irvine for Australia's opener.

Duke slid low to turn a Craig Goodwin free kick back across the six-yard box in the 12th minute and Irvine was given the simplest job to tap in.

Replays showed Duke was offside, but with no VAR in use, Australia had the lead.

Ecuador responded quickly with a well-taken header from defender Felix Torres.

But Australia were able to storm back into the lead when their high press caught the visitors out at the back.

Defender Piero Hincape had a ball snatched off him by a hassling Irvine and the midfielder was able to tee Mabil up in the box.

The winger powered the ball into the back of the net and Australia looked promising.

Duke was at his bustling best and the forward could consider himself unlucky to have not scored on his return to Sydney's west.

The forward was taken off soon after the hour mark with hardworking midfielder Keanu Baccus at the expense Wanderers forward Brandon Borrello and Robertson.

Robertson, who has yet to start a senior game for Manchester City, looked assured on his maiden Socceroos outing and it was his intricate build-up play that began a move for Kuol's goal.

Robertson charged down the left exchanging passes on the way before finding Aziz Behich, whose cross was tapped in by Kuol.

Arnold said he was likely to make changes in the second friendly against Ecuador in Melbourne on Tuesday.

"It's a friendly game but it's about getting the kids to learn what we want from them," Arnold said.

"Ecuador were a good team and I'm very happy with the way the boys played."

© AAP 2023

Anthony Albanese says there is more than enough detail on the Indigenous voice to parliament for the public to make up their mind on the proposal.

Following the release of the question Australians will vote on at the referendum later this year, the prime minister hit back at opposition claims key advice on the voice was being withheld.

He challenged Opposition Leader Peter Dutton to declare his stance on the voice to parliament, warning the request for detail was a well-worn tactic.

"We know from the republic playbook that occurred last century that it is nothing more than a tactic, and it lacks genuineness to just continue to say, 'We don't have the detail'," Mr Albanese told reporters in Melbourne on Friday.

"No matter how much detail is put out, Peter Dutton will say,'What about more detail'. That's the game that's being played here, and he should make a decision of where he stands on the issue."

The prime minister said he had met with the opposition leader seven times on the voice, and those concerns were not aired by Mr Dutton during the meetings.

Mr Dutton has urged the government to release legal advice from the solicitor-general on the implications of the voice.

A key concern has been that decisions might be delayed or taken to the High Court because representations by the voice must be considered by government decision-makers before they can validly make a decision.

Shadow attorney-general Julian Leeser said the prime minister was being disingenuous about the opposition leader's approach.

"Peter Dutton has approached this issue in good faith right from the very start. He said he came to this with an open mind," Mr Leeser told Sky News.

"I am sad that it's gotten to this point, I would have liked to have seen the prime minister engage with the reasonable questions that Australians have been asking Peter and myself."

Mr Leeser said Australians needed to see the legal advice on the voice before a vote was held on the proposal.

Mr Albanese was confident the wording of the constitutional changes was watertight.

"This hasn't arisen in a vacuum. There's been all of this work done by the advisory group to the referendum working group. It's very clear that this is a straightforward proposition," he said.

He said leadership was about enlarging the country, not "shrinking into old politics".

Laws setting out the referendum will be introduced to the federal parliament next week, with the vote to take place between October and December.

Deputy Liberal leader Sussan Ley said the announcement of the referendum question was an "emotional day", but more detail on the proposal was needed.

"You don't get a blank cheque to change the constitution."

Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus has warned of significant consequences for the future of reconciliation should the referendum fail.

"It would be a very long time before we returned to any question of recognition. I think it would be a tremendous setback for relations with our First Peoples," he told ABC Radio on Friday.

Nationals MP Keith Pitt, who says he will vote no at the referendum, said all members of parliament and senators were there to make representations on behalf of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders, noting 11 parliamentarians were Indigenous Australians.

Mr Pitt said changing the constitution to mean Australians "won't be treated equally" is not something he could support.

© AAP 2023