Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has sought to reassure Australians its alliance and deep relationship with the US will continue after the shock election of Donald Trump as its next president.
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Hailing the victory as a "great and momentous choice", Mr Turnbull said the two countries shared "enduring national interests" no matter who was in power in Canberra and Washington.
"This is an historic moment. It has been a long campaign, one that Australians have witnessed with awe - with consternation, indeed - from time to time," he said in a statement shortly after Mr Trump declared victory.
"But let me reassure all Australians that the ties that bind Australia and the United States are profound, they are strong, they are based on our enduring national interests.
"Politicians and governments, congressmen, senators, prime ministers and cabinets will come and go according to the will of the people of Australia and the United States.
"But the bond between our two nations, our shared common interests, our shared national interests, are so strong, are so committed, that we will continue to work with our friends in the United States through the Trump administration, just as we have through the Obama administration, just as we always will."
Later on the ABC's 730 program, Mr Turnbull was asked about Mr Trump's pronouncements on foreign and economic policy, including suggestions he might withdraw the US from NATO, fail to honour treaties with Japan and oppose trade deals such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership with Australia and the Asia-Pacific region.
Mr Turnbull said the US would "stand by its commitments", which were in both countries' mutual interests, and invoked the phrase of former New York governor Mario Cuomo that politicians "campaign in poetry" but "govern in prose".
"The fact is that when an administration takes office, and a president takes office, he is confronted with the realities of the national interests of the United States, the strategic realities that confront the United States," Mr Turnbull said.
Asked about the civic unrest and disruption reflected in the Brexit vote, the rise of One Nation and now the election of Mr Trump, the Prime Minister said it was vital that leaders explained why they pursued free markets during times of unprecedented change.
"It's important for leaders to ensure that everybody in the community, all sectors of the community, are included ... that communities are not left behind," he said. "We have to make the strongest case we can for open markets and free trade."
