Australian investors will soon gain a better understanding of how some of the country's biggest corporations are navigating cost pressures, labour shortages and slowing consumer demand.

Commonwealth Bank (CBA), Telstra, News Corporation, AMP, IAG and QBE Insurance will be among the companies reporting full-year results this week as earnings season kicks into high gear.

The war in Ukraine and related supply-chain disruptions, interest rate hikes, inflation and flooding across Australia's east coast have posed challenges on top of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Earnings growth is expected to be solid, led by a boost to energy and industrials.

CBA's highly anticipated full-year results, due on Wednesday, come off some weakness in the banking sector, Tribeca Investment Partners fund manager Jun Bei Liu says.

With a market capitalisation of $172 billion, the bank is Australia's second-largest company, behind mining giant BHP.

"There is a bit of nervousness about what is to come, in terms of whether the credit growth will slow substantially, mortgage growth will slow," Ms Liu told AAP.

"Just a little bit of fear about what the commentary might be coming out of CBA."

The bank is tipped to record a net profit of more than $9 billion.

More generally, Ms Liu said the market would examine each company's forward guidance to gauge demand.

"Just because interest rate increases have really only taken place in the last few months - we haven't really seen it filter through the economy yet," she said.

"So anything companies say will be key to understand what the corporate earnings landscape might look like over the next 12 months with this backdrop."

Saxo Capital Markets Australian market analyst Jessica Amir also expects 30-year inflation to be a major theme of reporting season.

"The real focus will be on what companies are guiding for, for the year ahead," Ms Amir told AAP.

She expects fossil fuel companies will unfortunately confound ethical investors by delivering some of the most robust results this earnings season.

"As we look to the future, we see the coal price will continue to hit a new record high and also secondly, the oil price will likely rally up again as we head into the new year," she said.

Meanwhile Australian stocks should have a tame lead-in to the week after US indexes closed mostly lower on Friday.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 76.65 points, or 0.23 per cent, to 32,803.47, the S&P 500 lost 6.75 points, or 0.16 per cent, to 4,145.19 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 63.03 points, or 0.5 per cent, to 12,657.56.

Australian futures fell 7.00 points to 6914.

The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index on Friday closed up 40.7 point, or 0.58 per cent, at 7015.6.

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Australia faces a surge in prostate cancer cases over the next two decades as the nation's male population increases and ages, research shows.

The Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia says cases are expected to rise 43 per cent by 2040.

Its research, based on the number of Australians over the past 40 years with the disease likely to have male offspring, forecast cases to lift from more than 240,000 at present to 372,000.

"Our population is ageing and increasing, which means more and more men are being diagnosed with prostate cancer every year," PCFA CEO Anne Savage said.

The research also found 630,000 Australians may presently be at double the average risk of prostate cancer due to a family history of the disease.

More than 24,000 Australians are likely to be diagnosed with prostate cancer this year, and more than 3500 are expected to die from it, the PCFA says.

"Essentially what we are facing is a tidal wave of risk," Ms Savage said.

"It's vital that we give these men and their families all the information they need to enable early diagnosis and timely treatment."

PCFA's head of research Jeff Dunn said greater awareness was key to saving lives, especially among those with a family history of the potentially lethal cancer.

Professor Dunn said most men did not know the PSA test guidelines - the screening program for prostate cancer - and may not know a family history lifted the risk of a potentially aggressive diagnosis at a younger age.

"The fact is that low awareness levels impede early detection and diminish men's survival prospects," he said.

"For men with a family history of disease, we need to give much clearer guidance about their risks and screening options."

The new research has been timed with the peak body's nationwide campaign for Prostate Cancer Awareness Month in September, known as The Long Run.

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Folk music icon and much-loved Australian entertainer Judith Durham has died aged 79.

Durham died in Melbourne on Friday night after suffering complications from a long-standing lung disease, her management said.

She made her first recording at 19 and later achieved worldwide fame as lead singer of The Seekers after joining the group in 1963.

The group of four became the first Australian band to achieve major chart and sales success in the United Kingdom and United States, eventually selling 50 million records.

Durham embarked on a solo career in 1968 but recorded with The Seekers again in the 1990s.

In 2015, she was honoured as Victorian of the Year.

Durham passed away in palliative care on Friday night after a brief stay in Alfred Hospital in Melbourne, Universal Music Australia and Musicoast said in a statement on Saturday.

Her death was a result of complications from a long-standing chronic lung disease, according to the statement.

The Seekers management team member Graham Simpson said: "This is a sad day for Judith's family, her fellow Seekers, the staff of Musicoast, the music industry and fans worldwide, and all of us who have been part of Judith's life for so long."

Durham's sister Beverley Sheehan spoke of the pair's shared love of music.

"Judith's joy for life, her constant optimism, creativity and generosity of spirit were always an inspiration to me," Ms Sheehan said.

Her bandmates in The Seekers -- Keith Potger, Bruce Woodley and Athol Guy -- said their lives had been changed forever by losing "our treasured lifelong friend and shining star".

"Her struggle was intense and heroic, never complaining of her destiny and fully accepting its conclusion. Her magnificent musical legacy Keith, Bruce and I are so blessed to share," they said.

Tributes flowed for the beloved singer, with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese hailing Durham as "a national treasure and an Australian icon".

"Judith Durham gave voice to a new strand of our identity and helped blaze a trail for a new generation of Aussie artists," Mr Albanese said on Twitter.

"Her kindness will be missed by many, the anthems she gave to our nation will never be forgotten."

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton paid tribute to Durham as someone who "gave voice to more than one generation of Australians through words of universal appeal, carried by melodies that, once heard, became fixed in our memories".

"Durham demonstrated in song after song, concert after concert, how the human voice can reach, and move, every one of us," Mr Dutton said in a statement.

"Her language was uniquely Australian, and her voice a gift of universal beauty."

Victorian Premier Dan Andrews said the Essendon-born musician "went on to conquer the music world both here in Australia and overseas".

"With her unique voice and stage presence leading The Seekers, the band became one of Australia's biggest chart toppers," Mr Andrews said on Twitter.

Australia's entertainment industry also responded to the sad news, with singer Anthony Callea posting: "the skies above just gained a voice of an angel."

Actor Magda Szubanski sent her "deepest condolences to her loved ones".

"Her beautiful, crystalline voice was the naive but knowing siren song of my childhood," Ms Szubanski tweeted.

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State and federal authorities are worried the number of Australians getting their third dose of COVID-19 vaccine is flatlining.

Some 71.4 per cent of eligible Australians, or just over 14.1 million people, have so far received a third dose.

But there are more than 5.6 million yet to get their booster.

The concern comes amid almost 29,000 new virus cases recorded across the nation on Saturday along with 89 deaths.

While decreasing daily over the past week, the number of virus patients in hospital care also remains a touch under 4500 or accounting for almost one in 12 hospital beds.

The number of active cases nationwide officially remains above 300,000.

Queensland is the worst-performing state for boosters, with 64.5 per cent of eligible residents receiving a third jab, while the ACT has the best coverage (79.9 per cent).

The booster rate is 55 per cent for Indigenous Australians nationally.

New third doses are barely rising each day, ranging from NSW recording 2075 on Friday and the Northern Territory 45.

"Third booster dose rates have flatlined, which is something I'm very concerned about," Health Minister Mark Butler says.

Information campaigns are being rolled out but there is a persistent problem with the slow rate of uptake by under-65s.

So far 4.22 million Australians have received a fourth dose, after the program was extended several weeks ago.

Opposition health spokeswoman Anne Ruston says the federal government's response to the Omicron wave is "worrying".

"They have ended a range of supports that have helped Australians through the pandemic and have been forced to backflip on the pandemic leave disaster payment," she told AAP.

"With no explanation and no apparent advice or modelling to support their decisions, 70 COVID-related telehealth items, free RATS for concession card holders and aged care homes, and Operation COVID Shield have all ended."

Senator Rushton said the government should release its health advice and modelling.

National cabinet, which is overseeing the pandemic response, is due to next meet on August 31.

The vaccination concerns come with Victoria announcing slightly fewer patients awaiting elective surgery despite one of the worst winters on record due to a horror flu season and the ongoing pandemic.

The state's wait list for elective procedures shrunk from a revised 88,920 to 87,275 during the June quarter, while Ambulance Victoria experienced the busiest period for code one call-outs in its history.

LATEST 24-HOUR COVID-19 DATA:

NSW: 11,998 cases, 30 deaths, 2187 in hospital with 57 in ICU

Victoria: 6261 cases, 24 deaths, 668 in hospital with 36 in ICU

Tasmania: 651 cases, one death, 23 in hospital with five in ICU

ACT: 579 cases, one death, 135 in hospital with two in ICU

WA: 2911 cases, two deaths, 346 in hospital with 14 in ICU

Queensland: 4174 cases, 18 deaths, 703 in hospital with 26 in ICU

NT: 231 cases, no deaths, 43 in hospital with one in ICU

SA: 1959 cases, 13 deaths, 311 in hospital and 10 in ICU.

© AAP 2022