Australia took a "little step forward" with their Rugby Championship victory over Argentina in Perth, according to coach Michael Cheika.

The Wallabies started the 2016 edition of the competition with two heavy defeats at the hands of the All Blacks, piling pressure on Cheika's squad.

However, they have reacted well with wins over South Africa and now Argentina, leaving them second with two games to play - New Zealand having claimed the title thanks to Australia's 36-20 win on Saturday.

A second successive win had plenty of positives for Cheika, his men racing into a 21-0 lead in the first-half before producing a solid defensive display to ensure victory.

"It's another little step forward for us," said Cheika. 

"We know that when we have opportunities we've got to take them and tonight we were able to do that and got five tries.

"We defended better, I still think we could get into our ruck work and our defence a bit better, but [we] improved there and that gave us a bit of a platform to work off.

"And we need to get a bit more continuity going in attack but the big thing at the moment has been our [defence] and the set pieces, improving those, and a bit at a time it's coming."